The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)

THE MOST REV. ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ,

R. C. ARCHBISHOP OF ST. BONIFACE

Archbishop Taché belongs to one of the oldest and most remarkable families of Canada; one that can refer with just pride to its ancestry, among whom are ranked Louis Joliette, the celebrated discoverer of the Mississippi, and Sieur Varennes de la Verandrye, the hardy explorer of the Red River, the Upper Missouri, and the Saskatchewan country; while several others are conspicuous in Canadian annals for eminent services rendered in their respective spheres. Jean Taché, the first of the name in Canada, arrived at Quebec in 1739, married Demoiselle Marguerite Joliette de Mingan, and occupied several influential positions under the French regime. He was the possessor of a large fortune, but was ruined by the Conquest which substituted English for French rule. His son Charles settled in Montmagny, and had three sons, Charles, Jean Baptiste, and Etienne Pascal. The last-mentioned became Sir Etienne Pascal Taché, and died Premier of Canada in 1865. Charles, the eldest of the three, after having served as Captain in the regiment of Voltigeurs during the war with the United States, took up his residence in Kamouraska. He married Demoiselle Henriette Boucher de la Broquerie, great grand-daughter of the founder of Boucherville, and grand-niece of Madame d'Youville, the foundress of the Grey Nunnery of Montreal. Three sons were born of this marriage: Dr. Joseph Charles Taché, a well-known Canadian writer, Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, and Deputy of the Minister of Agriculture and Statistics; Louis Taché, Sheriff of St. Hyacinthe; and Alexandre Antonin Taché, Archbishop of St. Boniface, the subject of the present sketch.

The Archbishop was born at Rivière du Loup (en bas), Quebec, on the 23rd of July, 1823. At the tender age of two years and a half he lost his father. Madame Taché, after the death of her husband, repaired with her young family to Boucherville, to dwell with her father, M. de la Broquerie. Madame Taché was endowed with many of the qualities that constitute the model wife and mother, and made it the sole aim of her life to have her sons follow in the path of duty and honour trodden by their forefathers. From his infancy young Alexandre displayed fine natural qualities, crowned by a passionate love for his mother. This affection has lost nothing of its intensity, and to the present day the mere mention of his mother strikes the tenderest chord of his feelings. At school and at college he was noted for his genial character, amiable gaiety and bright intellect. He received his higher education at the College of St. Hyacinthe. Having completed his course of classical studies, he donned the ecclesiastical habit, went as a student to the Theological Seminary of Montreal, and subsequently returned to the College of St. Hyacinthe as Professor of Mathematics.

Meanwhile the arrival of the disciples of De Mazenod, founder of the Order of the Oblates, threw a new light on the vocation of Alexandre Taché. Being the great-great-grandson of Joliette, and having been brought up in Boucherville, in the very house whence the celebrated Jacques Marquette had started for his western missions — having moreover been sheltered by the same roof under which Marquette had registered the first baptism administered in the locality¹³— it is no wonder that the spirit of those renowned personages still hovered around the young ecclesiastic, indicating a life of self-denial, to be endured in the far North-West. He entered the novitiate at Longueil, in October, 1844. The mission of the Oblate Fathers, which now extends from the coast of Labrador to the shores of British Columbia, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Sea, was then in its infancy in Canada. In 1844 the Hudson's Bay and North-West Territories were detached from the diocese of Quebec, and the Right Reverend Joseph Norbert Provencher, who had been exercising his zeal throughout those vast regions, was appointed Apostolic Vicar. The venerable prelate had toiled, with a very small number of co-labourers, during the twenty-six previous years, in evangelizing the scattered tribes. Bishop Provencher was convinced that to give more extension to his work it was necessary to secure the services of a religious order, and fixed his choice on the Oblates. His proposal was so much the more readily accepted that it was suited to carry into practical effect, to a more than ordinary degree, the motto of the Order —Pauperes evangelizantur. This decision awakened a flame in the heart of the novice Taché. His first impulse was to offer his services in the generous undertaking. It was not without dread and apprehension that he harboured the idea, for he was but twenty-one years of age. So far, he had known in life naught but what was congenial to his affectionate nature: the pure joys of home, the tenderness and solicitude of an almost idolized mother. He had grown up in the sunshine of universal affection, and his feelings had never been chilled or nipped by deception or unkindness. The struggle was a difficult one; but, in the designs of Providence, his love for his mother was made the means of determining his resolution. The act of his life which has enlisted the most tender sympathies is certainly that which found him at the shrine of filial piety, offering to the Almighty the sacrifice of home and country, and of all that he held dearest on earth; begging, in return, the recovery of his mother from a dangerous illness under which she was then labouring. Madame Taché was restored to health, and was spared for twenty-six years to witness the elevation and popularity to which her beloved son was destined.

On the 24th of June, 1845, the national feast of French Canadians, while all around was exultant with joy and festivity, the young missionary, accompanied by the Rev. P. Aubert, took his place in a birch bark canoe for a foreign shore. A page from the pen of the Bishop of St. Boniface in his work "Vingt Années de Missions," published some years ago, vividly describes his feelings on the occasion: — "You will allow me to tell you what I felt as I receded from the sources of the St. Lawrence, on whose banks Providence had fixed my birthplace, and by whose waters I first conceived the thought of becoming a missionary of the Red River. I drank of those waters for the last time, and mingled with them some parting tears, and confided to them some of the secret thoughts and affectionate sentiments of my inmost heart. I could imagine how some of the bright waves of this river, rolling down from lake to lake, would at last strike on the beach nigh to which a beloved mother was praying for her son that he might become a perfect Oblate and a holy missionary. I knew that, being intensely pre-occupied with that son's happiness, she would listen to the faintest murmuring sound, to the very beatings of the waves coming from the North-West, as if to discover in them the echoes of her son's voice asking a prayer or promising a remembrance. I give expression to what I felt on that occasion, for the recollection now, after the lapse of twenty years, of the emotions I experienced in quitting home and friends, enables me more fully to appreciate the generous devotedness of those who give up all they hold most dear in human affection for the salvation of souls. The height of land was as it were the threshold of the entrance to our new home, and the barrier about to close behind us. When the heart is a prey to deep emotion it needs to be strengthened. To sooth mine, I brought it to consider the uncultured and savage nature of the soil we were treading... I calculated, or at least accepted, all the consequences thereof. I bade to my native land an adieu which I then believed to be everlasting, and I vowed to my adopted land a love and attachment which I then, as now, wished to be as lasting as my life."

The missionaries reached St. Boniface on the 25th of August, after a long and tiresome journey of sixty-two days. On the first Sunday after his arrival the young ecclesiastic, who had during the voyage reached the required age of twenty-two years, was ordained Deacon, and on the 12th of October following he was raised to the Priesthood. The next day Father Taché pronounced his religious vows. This was the first time that the vows of religion were pronounced in the far North-West, and it is worth noting, once more, that the young Oblate then performing the solemn act was related to the discoverer who first hoisted the banner of the cross in those remote regions — the illustrious Varennes de la Verandrye. Shortly after his ordination Father Taché was appointed to accompany the Rev. L. Lafleche, now Bishop of Three Rivers, to Isle à la Crosse, a thousand miles distant from St. Boniface. They started on the 8th of July, 1846, and after a harassing journey that lasted two months they arrived at their destination. The young missionary went heart and soul into his work. Having heard of an Indian Chief who lay dangerously ill at Lac Vert, a place ninety miles distant, and who desired to be baptized, he hastened through dismal swamps and pine forests to perform that sacred office. On his return, after four days' rest, he undertook the voyage to Lac Caribou, 350 miles north-east of Isle à la Crosse, and was the first who ever reached that desolate spot to announce the Gospel of Peace. There he had the happiness of instructing and baptizing several poor Indians. His next missionary expedition was to Athabasca. On his way thither he was warned of the fierce and savage character of the Indian tribes who frequented that region, but, nevertheless, he courageously pursued his weary journey of 400 miles to the end. A great missionary triumph awaited him. In the course of three weeks he baptized 194 Indian children of the Cree and Chippeweyan tribes. These happy beginnings inspired Father Taché's zeal to pursue with continued ardour his apostolic career. The annals of the "Propagation of the Faith" contain soul-stirring accounts of the labours accomplished by the young missionary. His travels were through the wilderness, where no hospitable roof offered a shelter. After a long day's walking through deep snow, or running behind a dog sled, with nothing to appease his hunger but the unpalatable pemmican, he had to seek repose on the cold ground, with the canopy of heaven overhead. Still, he affirms that he counts among the happiest days of his life those passed in his first Indian missions in the North-West, and relates how his heart beat with joy when, at a journey's end, he was welcomed by the untutored savages whom he desired to win to Christ.

While Father Taché was thus giving proofs of his zeal and ability, and seeking to extend the reign of the Master who had chosen him, his superiors were admiring his remarkable endowments. The young clergyman who sought oblivion was being marked out for an exalted dignity. The keen eye of the venerable bishop of the North-West had remarked the brilliant talents of his young missionary, and experience has shown how judicious was his choice in selecting Father Taché, then only twenty-six years of age, as his coadjutor and future successor. It is easy to imagine the latter's surprise on receiving the news of his promotion to the episcopate. At the call of his bishop he repaired to St. Boniface. A letter from his Religious Superior awaited him there, instructing him to sail immediately for France for his consecration. His first meeting with the founder of the Oblates was marked by signs of mutual appreciation. Bishop Taché received the episcopal consecration on the 23rd of November, 1851, in the Cathedral of Viviers, in Southern France, at the hands of the Bishop of Marseilles, Monseigneur De Mazenod, assisted by Monseigneur Guibert, now Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, and Monseigneur Prince, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. Bishop Taché left immediately for Rome. The paternal encouragements of His Holiness Pope Pius IX., and repeated visits to the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs, imparted renewed strength to the energy of the young prelate. He started in February for the remote scene of his labours. He spent a few weeks in Lower Canada, where the liveliest sympathies were lavished upon him. Every one was impatient to see and to hear the young bishop of the Indians of the North-West. In the month of June he reached St. Boniface. Bishop Provencher, feeling that his end was near, had thought of retaining his coadjutor near him, but the strong reasons adduced by the missionary bishop prevailed. Monseigneur Taché, on taking his departure for Isle à la Crosse, knelt to ask the blessing of Monseigneur Provencher. The venerable prelate gave expression on that occasion to the following prophetic words: — "It is not customary for a bishop to ask for another bishop's blessing, but as I am soon to die, and as we shall never again meet in this world, I will bless you once more on this earth, while awaiting the happiness of embracing you in heaven."

Father Taché's elevation to the episcopal dignity increased his responsibilities, and gave a new impulse to his zeal and devotion to the good cause, while the unction of a divine commission gave efficacy and power to his efforts. From his residence at Isle à la Crosse the prelate made frequent excursions to visit different tribes. The following playful but truthful description, in his own words, of his dwelling place, and of his mode of travelling, gives an idea of what he had to endure, and how he bore it: — "My episcopal palace is twenty feet in length, twenty in width, and seven in height. It is built of logs cemented with mud, which, however, is not impermeable, for the wind and the rain and other atmospheric annoyances find easy access through its walls. Two windows of six small panes of glass lighten the principal apartment, and two pieces of parchment complete the rest of the luminary system. In this palace, though at first glance everything looks mean and diminutive, a character of real grandeur, nevertheless, pervades the whole establishment. For instance, my secretary is no less a personage than a bishop — my 'valet de chambre' is also a bishop — my cook himself is sometimes a bishop. The illustrious employés have countless defects, but their attachment to my person endears them to me, and I cannot help looking at them with a feeling of satisfaction. When they grow tired of their domestic employments I put them all on the road, and going with them, I strive to make them cheery. The entire household of his lordship is en route, with two Indians, and a half-breed who conducts a team of four dogs. The team is laden with cooking utensils, bedding, a wardrobe, a portable altar and its fittings, a food basket, and other odds and ends. His lordship puts on a pair of snow shoes which are from three to four feet in length, real episcopal pantofles, perfectly adapted to the fine tissue of the white carpet on which he has to walk, moving with more or less rapidity according to the muscular strength of the traveller. Towards evening this strength equals zero; the march is suspended, and the episcopal party is ordered to halt. An hour's labour suffices to prepare a mansion wherein his lordship will repose till the next morning. The bright white snow is carefully removed, and branches of trees are spread over the cleared ground. These form the ornamental flooring of the new palace; the sky is its lofty roof, the moon and stars are its brilliant lamps, the dark pine forests or the boundless horizon its sumptuous wainscoting. The four dogs of the team are its sentinels, the wolves and the owls preside over the musical orchestra, hunger and cold give zest to the joy experienced at the sight of the preparations which are being made for the evening banquet and the night's repose. The chilled and stiffened limbs bless the merciful warmth of the kindled pile to which the 'giants of the forest' have supplied abundant fuel. Having taken possession of their mansion, the proprietors partake of a common repast; the dogs are the first served, then comes his lordship's turn, his table is his knees, the table service consists of a pocket-knife, a bowl, a tin plate, and a five-pronged fork, which is an old family heirloom. The Benedicite omnia opera is pronounced. Nature is too grand and beautiful in the midst even of all its trying rigours for us to forget its Author; therefore, during these encampments our hearts become filled with thoughts that are solemn and overpowering. We feel it then to be our duty to communicate such thoughts to the companions of our journey, and to invite them to love Him by whom all those wonderful things we behold around us were made, and to give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow. Having rendered our homage to God, Monseigneur's 'valet de chambre' removes from his lordship's shoulders the overcoat which he has worn during the day, and extending it on the ground calls it a mattress; his cap, his mittens and his travelling bag pass in the darkness of the night for a pillow; two woollen blankets undertake the task of protecting the bishop from the cold of the night, and of preserving the warmth necessary for his repose. Lest they should fail in such offices, Providence comes to their aid, by sending a kindly little layer of snow, which spreads a protecting mantle, without distinction, over all alike. Beneath its white folds sleep tranquilly the prelate and his suite, repairing in their calm slumbers the fatigues of the previous day, and gathering strength for the journey of the morrow; never dreaming of the surprise that some spoiled child of civilization would experience if, lifting this snow mantle he found lying beneath it bishop, Indians, the four dogs of the team, etc., etc., etc." The above description is applicable not merely to a solitary journey made by Bishop Taché, but to those habitually performed by him; and as it gives an excellent idea of the nature of primitive travel in the North-West we have quoted it at length.

On the 7th of June, 1853, the first Bishop of St. Boniface breathed his last, worn out by a life of toil and usefulness. His coadjutor received the sad tidings while making the pastoral visitation of the diocese. The stroke was a severe one, and it was with dread and mistrust in himself that Bishop Taché entered upon the office of titular bishop of an immense territory. Nevertheless, at the call of the new bishop zealous co-labourers came forth to share a high and holy mission. Colleges, convents and schools were founded, while those already existing were supported to a great extent by the generosity of the prelate himself, ever ready to endure the severest privations for the sake of his flock. At his request the Sisters of Charity opened an asylum for little orphan girls, while the orphan boys shared the lodgings and table of the bishop, until provision could be made for them. Missionary posts were established and extended three thousand miles distant from St. Boniface. The visitation of the diocese at necessary intervals became, for the Bishop of St. Boniface, an impossibility. In 1857, accordingly, the prelate made a voyage to Europe to obtain a coadjutor. The Rev. Father Grandin was appointed to this office. In 1860 the Bishop of St. Boniface undertook a long and trying journey to confer with his coadjutor at Isle à la Crosse, on the propriety of subdividing the diocese, and of proposing the Rev. Father Faraud for an episcopal charge. The plan was adopted and sanctioned by proper authority. The districts of Athabasca and Mackenzie became a Vicariate Apostolic, confided to the zeal of Monseigneur Faraud. Bishop Taché had to suffer more during that journey than can be easily imagined by those unacquainted with the climate and the mode of travelling in that country. From that time his health began to fail, but left his indomitable energy unimpaired, as was needed for the trials which awaited him in the not distant future. Alluding to the morning of the 14th of December, 1860, he writes as follows: — "We left our frosty bed at the early hour of one a.m. to continue our journey. We travelled until ten in the forenoon, and then halted to rest, and to partake of a little food. We found it almost impossible to kindle a fire; at last we partially succeeded. I sat beside the dying embers, cold and hungry and wearied; a peculiar sadness oppressed me. I was then nine hundred miles from St. Boniface." This sadness might have seemed a premonition of what was occurring at St. Boniface on the same day and at the same hour. The episcopal residence and the cathedral were in flames, and with them everything they contained was reduced to ashes. With what grief did the bishop witness the scene of destruction on his return after his painful journey! He writes as follows to the Bishop of Montreal: — "You may judge, my Lord, of my emotion when, on the 23rd of February, after a journey of fifty-four days in the depth of winter, after sleeping forty-four nights in the open air, I arrived at St. Boniface, and knelt in the midst of the ruins caused by the disaster of the 14th of December, on that spot where lately stood a thriving religious establishment. But the destruction of the episcopal establishment was not the only trial which it pleased God that year to send us. A frightful inundation invaded our Colony, and plunged its population in profound misery. What should the Bishop of St. Boniface do in presence of these ruins, and under the weight of so heavy a load of affliction, but bow down his head in Christian and loving submission to the Divine will, whilst blessing the hand that smote him, and adoring the merciful God who chastised him?"

The soul of the Bishop of St. Boniface, though sorely tried by the above disasters, as well as by the distress of seeing his flock looking to him for assistance, was not cast down. He lost no time in taking the necessary steps to repair the calamities which had occurred. He went to Canada and to France to raise funds, and success crowned his efforts. Mr. Joseph James Hargrave, in his work on "Red River," alluding to the burning of the cathedral and episcopal residence, says: — "This check has, however, through the ability of the bishop, been turned almost into a benefit, for a much superior church has been raised on the site of the old one, and the handsome and commodious stone dwelling-house which has replaced the other is, in more than mere name, a palace."

In 1868 all the crops in the Red River settlement were destroyed by innumerable swarms of grasshoppers. The same year the buffalo chase, one of the principal resources of the country at the time, was a complete failure. Famine was the result. The most energetic efforts were made to mitigate the distress, and timely aid from abroad prevented, in many cases, death from starvation. A Relief Committee was appointed, and among the members were the clergymen of the different religious denominations, to whom it belonged to see to the wants of their respective congregations. While it is true that all these gentlemen acted their part well, it is but fair to add that Bishop Taché was the most active; ever devising new means, at his own expense, to preserve his people from starvation, and securing seed for the ensuing spring when the resources of the committee were insufficient.

Famine is often a forerunner of political disturbance in a country. During the spring of 1869 a universal feeling of dissatisfaction and of uneasiness prevailed in the colony, when it became known, through the public press, that transactions were being carried on between Her Majesty's Government, that of the Dominion, and the Hudson's Bay Company, for the transfer of the Red River country to Canada, while the authorities of Assiniboia and the population of the colony were entirely ignored by the negotiating parties. This wounded the susceptibilities of the inhabitants, among whom a spirit of sullenness and disaffection began to appear. The surveyors sent from Canada to lay out the land were not allowed to prosecute their work, and when the newspapers of Ontario and Quebec brought intelligence to Fort Garry that a Commission under the Great Seal of Canada had been issued on the 29th of September, 1869, appointing the Hon. William McDougall to be Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories, and that the Honourable gentleman was en route with a party, and taking with him three hundred and fifty breech-loading rifles with thirty thousand rounds of ammunition, the dissatisfaction became exasperation. The French Half-Breeds took up arms and sent a party to the frontier to meet Mr. McDougall and order him back. Such was the beginning of the outbreak.

Bishop Taché was at this time absent in Europe, attending the sitting of the [OE]cumenical Council at Rome. When the troubles in the North-West became known to the Canadian Government at Ottawa, it was thought desirable to secure His Lordship's services. His influence over the French Half-Breeds was known to be all-powerful, and he was regarded as the one man for the crisis. He was communicated with by cablegram, and, recognizing the urgency of the case, he at once set out for Canada. Upon reaching Ottawa he had a conference with the Government, and received instructions authorizing him to proceed at once to the North-West, and to offer the rebels an amnesty for all past offences. He lost no time in repairing to Fort Garry, but five days before his arrival there the murder of Thomas Scott — "the dark crime of the rebellion" — had been committed. Bishop Taché, while deploring that ruthless piece of butchery, did not conceive that his instructions were affected thereby. He recognized the Provisional Government, entered into negotiations with Riel, and was instrumental in restoring peace. He unconsciously exceeded his powers, and made promises to the rebels in the name of the Canadian Government which, in the absence of express Imperial authority, the Canadian Government itself had no power to make. All this, however, was done from the best of motives, for the purpose of preventing further bloodshed, and without any idea that he was exceeding the authority with which he had been invested. A great deal has been said and written against Bishop Taché in connection with this troublesome episode in the history of Red River. The Archbishop has informed the author of this sketch that his intention is to personally prepare a full account of what he knows respecting that episode. Meanwhile, suffice it to say to those who would know the part played by him, that His Grace has already published two pamphlets on the subject, the first in 1874, and the second in 1875. The latter portrays the painful feeling experienced by His Grace at the way he was treated by the authorities after he had succeeded in appeasing the dissatisfied people, and in bringing them to enter into negotiations, the results of which were satisfactory to the Government of Canada, as well as to the old settlers of Assiniboia. It is impossible, in reading those pages, not to be convinced that the prelate acted with the utmost good faith, and with the interests of the country at heart. "The Amnesty Again, or Charges Refuted," clearly demonstrates how deeply the author felt that he had been unjustly treated. Few men, if any, in Canada, occupying such a high position, have been attacked so unfairly as Bishop Taché. There is not a man of sense acquainted with His Lordship and with the country in which he has laboured so indefatigably during the last thirty-five years that would venture to repeat the accusations brought against him at the time in reference to the Red River disturbances. Some of those who had accused him experienced a complete transformation in their ideas on forming His Lordship's acquaintance, and could not help sharing in the universal respect which surrounds him.

On the 22nd of September, 1871, Bishop Taché was appointed Archbishop and Metropolitan of a new ecclesiastical province — that of St. Boniface, which comprehends the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, the Diocese of St. Albert, and the Vicariates Apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie and British Columbia. As already stated, Archbishop Taché's health began to fail during his harassing journey in the winter of 1860. The calamities above mentioned, the losses to be repaired requiring unceasing toil, and, above all, it may be said, the mental suffering of the three previous years, hastened the progress of the disease which seized Archbishop Taché in December, 1872, and kept him bedridden during the whole winter. The malady has since partially subsided, but His Grace still suffers constantly, more or less, and his strength is by no means equal to what his appearance would indicate.

In 1875 Archbishop Taché received a remarkable token of the sympathy he commands in the Province of Quebec. On the 24th of June, the thirtieth anniversary of his departure from Montreal, and the twenty-fifth of his election to the episcopate, His Grace was made the recipient of a very uncommon and valuable gift, that of a splendid organ for his cathedral. The instrument, which cost about $3,000, was built in Montreal by Mr. Mitchell, who accompanied it to St. Boniface, at the expense of the donors, to place it in the loft prepared for it there, "to raise its rich and melodious tones, as the expression of the feelings of the numerous friends and admirers of a holy missionary, a devoted bishop, and a noble citizen."

In 1877 Lord Dufferin visited the Province of Manitoba. Many looked forward with a certain anxiety to see the attitude the Archbishop of St. Boniface would take towards or receive from the Governor-General. That feeling was caused by the recollection of what Lord Dufferin had written to England with regard to Bishop Taché, and of how His Grace had repudiated His Excellency's assertions in the pamphlet alluded to above. Those better acquainted with His Grace knew quite well that every other feeling would be silenced in order to give vent only to that of profound respect towards the representative of Her Majesty, and for them it was no matter of surprise to see His Grace, contrary to his practice, appear daily in public, when an opportunity afforded itself, to testify his respect for the illustrious visitor. This, of course, was felt by Lord Dufferin, who shortly after wrote to a friend: "I left Bishop Taché very well and in good spirits. Nothing could have been kinder than the reception he gave me." It may even be said that Lord Dufferin seemed eager to express his esteem for the venerable prelate. The second day after His Excellency's arrival he was at the Archiepiscopal Palace of St. Boniface, and answered as follows to an address from the Archbishop and Catholic clergy of the locality: —