Quebec Studies

"A Devotion Which … Distinguishes this People from all Others"—The Cult of Saint Anne and the Making of the Colonial Community in Seventeenth-Century New France

Quebec Studies (2011), 51, (1), 3–20.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/qs.51.1.3
Language
English
Pages
18

Abstract

3 "A Devotion Which...Distinguishes this People from all Others"— The Cult of Saint Anne and the Making of the Colonial Community in Seventeenth-Century New France Mary Dunn Saint Louis University "Nothing," wrote Bishop François de Laval in 1680, "has helped us more efficaciously to bear the burden of Our pastoral office in this young church than the special devotion which all the inha­ bitants of this country bear towards Saint Anne, a devotion which, We can affirm with certitude, distinguishes this people from all others." — Cited in Morel, 1662-16671 Indeed, an almost exaggerated preference for Anne seems to have informed the religious world of the Canadian colony from its very beginnings. As legend has it, Jacques Cartier himself, along with his crew, was the first to celebrate the feast of Anne on colonial soil. Menaced by storms during the course of his second voyage to the new world in 1535, Cartier and his crew called out to Anne for help and soon found his fleet of ships safely reunited. On July 26, the day of Anne's feast, the sailors gathered on the Canadian shore and rendered thanks to Anne for her intercession and assistance (LeFebvre 6-7; Belanger 10-11). Nearly one hundred years later, as legend again has it, Samuel Champlain visited Auray as a pilgrim before setting sail to New France under the protection and patronage of Saint Anne (LeFebvre 7). Over the course of the seventeenth century, Anne would come to play an increasingly prominent role in the devotional lives of colonial settlers in New France, as indicated by the proliferation of chapels and churches ded­ icated to the saint, including the chapels dedicated to Saint Anne in the Ursuline monastery (1667) and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Québec (1647), and the churches of Sainte Anne de Varennes near Montréal (1693), Sainte-Anne of Pointe Saint-Charles (1698), Sainte-Anne de Bellevue (1710), and Sainte-Anne of Pérade near Trois-Rivières (1714), the emergence of the church of Sainte-Anne-du-Petit-Cap (now Beaupré) as "a place of pilgrim­ age where one goes all year round," and Anne's status as the most popular and effective miracle-worker in the young colony (Mandements I, 206).2 So prominent, in fact, had Anne become within the pantheon of colonial saints that in 1667 Bishop Laval saw fit to declare Anne's feast a holy day of oblig­ ation for all of New France. In the following article, I consider a diversity of evidence pertaining to Anne's cult in seventeenth-century New France, from sermons to Episco­ pal pronouncements to ex-voto paintings to archival records preserved at the Basilica of Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré (founded in 1658), to make the argu­ ment that the conspicuous place of Anne within the context of Catholicism in New France gestures to the ways in which devotion to Anne functioned Québec Studies, Volume 51, Spring/Summer 2011

Access Token

FormatArticle

£25.00
ReferencesPDF

Asselin, J. P. Régistre des Recettes et Dépenses de l'Église Sainte-Anne-du-Petit-Cap (1659-1700). PA.15a, b1, 31501. Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

Mandements, lettres pastorales et circulaires des évěques de Québec, vol. 1. Google Scholar

Morel, Thomas. "Miracles arrivés en l'Église de Saint-Anne-du-Petit-Cap côte de Beaupré en Canada, 1662-1667." Paroisses diverses, no. 72. Miracles arrivés en l'Église de Saint-Anne-du-Petit-Cap côte de Beaupré en Canada, 1662-1667 Paroisses diverses Google Scholar

Morel, Thomas. "Miracles arrivés en l'Église de Saint-Anne-du-Petit-Cap côte de Beaupré en Canada, 1686." Paroisses diverses, no. 84. Miracles arrivés en l'Église de Saint-Anne-du-Petit-Cap côte de Beaupré en Canada, 1686 Paroisses diverses Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

de la Colombière, Joseph. Sermons prěchés tant à Québec qu'à Montréal et autres lieux du Canada. Published Materials Google Scholar

Adams, Christine. A Taste for Comfort and Status: a Bourgeois Family in Eighteenth-century France. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State UP, 2000. A Taste for Comfort and Status: a Bourgeois Family in Eighteenth-century France Google Scholar

Barbeau, Marius. "Confrérie des menuisiers de Madame Sainte-Anne." Les Archives du folklore 1 (1946): 72-96. Confrérie des menuisiers de Madame Sainte-Anne Les Archives du folklore 1 72 96 Google Scholar

Barbeau, Marius. "La Confrérie de Sainte-Anne." Mémoires de la Société royale du Canada 3.39 (1945): 1-18. La Confrérie de Sainte-Anne Mémoires de la Société royale du Canada 3 1 18 Google Scholar

Belanger, Georges. La Bonne Sainte Anne au Canada et a Beaupré en conformité avec le décret d'Urbain VII. Québec: L'Action Sociale, 1923. La Bonne Sainte Anne au Canada et a Beaupré en conformité avec le décret d'Urbain VII Google Scholar

Benedict, Philip. The Huguenot Population of France. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1991. The Huguenot Population of France Google Scholar

Charland, Paul-Victor. Les Trois Légendes de Madame Saincte Anne. Québec: Pruneau & Kirouac, 1898. Les Trois Légendes de Madame Saincte Anne Google Scholar

Choquette, Leslie. "A Colony of ‘Native French Catholics?’ The Protestants of New France in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries." Memory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora. Eds. Bertrand Van Ruymbeke and Randy Sparks. Columbia: U South Carolina P, 2003. 255-66. Memory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora 255 66 Google Scholar

Choquette, Leslie. "Religious Conversions in New France." Québec Studies 40 (Fall 2005): 97-109. Religious Conversions in New France Québec Studies 40 97 109 Google Scholar

Cliche, Marie-Aimée. Les Pratiques de dévotion en Nouvelle-France: Comportements populaires et encadrement ecclésial dans le gouvernement de Québec. Québec: PU Laval, 1988. Les Pratiques de dévotion en Nouvelle-France: Comportements populaires et encadrement ecclésial dans le gouvernement de Québec Google Scholar

Cloutier, Nicole. "La Peinture Votive à Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré." Religion Populaire, Religion des Clercs? Eds. Benoit Lacroix and Jean Simard. Québec: Institut qué-bécois de recherche sur la culture, 1984. 149-79. Religion Populaire, Religion des Clercs? 149 79 Google Scholar

Crasset, Jean. De l'Instruction de la Jeunesse. Paris: Étienne Michallet, 1682. De l'Instruction de la Jeunesse Google Scholar

Dechěne, Louise. Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal. Trans. Liana Vardi. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 1992. Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth-Century Montreal Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

Eudes, Jean. L'Enfance Admirable de la Très-Sainte Mère de Dieu. Clermont-Ferrand: Thibaud-Landriot, 1834. L'Enfance Admirable de la Très-Sainte Mère de Dieu Google Scholar

Faillon, Étienne-Michel. Histoire de la Colonie Française au Canada. Villemarie: Bibliothèque paroissal, 1865. Histoire de la Colonie Française au Canada Google Scholar

 Google Scholar

Garrett, William. "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of the Modern Family." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27.2 (June 1998): 222-33. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of the Modern Family Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27 222 33 Google Scholar

Goddard, Peter. "Canada in Seventeenth-century Jesuit Thought: Backwater or Opportunity?" Decentring the Renaissance. Eds. Germaine Warkentin and Caroline Podruchny. Toronto: U Toronto P, 2001. 186-99. Decentring the Renaissance 186 99 Google Scholar

Greer, Allan. Brève Histoire des Peuples de la Nouvelle-France. Montréal: Boréal, 1998. Brève Histoire des Peuples de la Nouvelle-France Google Scholar

Greer, Allan. Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits Google Scholar

Heming, Carol Piper. Protestants and the Cult of the Saints in German-Speaking Europe, 1517-1531. Kirksville: Truman State UP, 2003. Protestants and the Cult of the Saints in German-Speaking Europe, 1517-1531 Google Scholar

Interpreting Cultural Symbols: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society. Eds. Kathleen Ashley and Pamela Sheingorn. Athens: U Georgia P, 1990. Google Scholar

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Ed. Reuben Gold Thwaites. Cleveland: Burrows Bros. Co., 1896-1901. Google Scholar

Larin, Robert. Brève histoire des Protestants en Nouvelle-France et au Québec. Québec: Éditions de la Paix, 1998. Brève histoire des Protestants en Nouvelle-France et au Québec Google Scholar

LeFebvre, Eugene. St. Anne de Beaupré, Its Shrine, Its Spirit. Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, 1959. St. Anne de Beaupré, Its Shrine, Its Spirit Google Scholar

Lettres édifiantes et curieuses écrites des missions étrangères, Mémoires d'Amérique. Lyon: J. Vernarel, 1819. Google Scholar

Marquis, Charles-Eugène. "Sainte Anne à Beaupré." Annales de la Bonne Sainte Anne (Jan. 1967): 4-9. Sainte Anne à Beaupré Annales de la Bonne Sainte Anne 4 9 Google Scholar

Marquis, Charles-Eugène and Lucien Gagné. "Monseigneur de Laval l'Évěque de la Bonne Sainte Anne." Annales de la Bonne Sainte Anne (May 1958): 145-48. Monseigneur de Laval l'Évěque de la Bonne Sainte Anne Annales de la Bonne Sainte Anne 145 48 Google Scholar

Maza, Sarah. The Myth of the French Bourgeoisie: An Essay on the Social Imaginary, 1750-1850. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2003. The Myth of the French Bourgeoisie: An Essay on the Social Imaginary, 1750-1850 Google Scholar

Moogk, Peter. "In the Darkness of a Basement: Craftsmen's Associations in Early French Canada." Canadian Historical Review 57 (1976): 399-439. In the Darkness of a Basement: Craftsmen's Associations in Early French Canada Canadian Historical Review 57 399 439 Google Scholar

Moogk, Peter. La Nouvelle France: The Making of French Canada — a Cultural History. E. Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2000. La Nouvelle France: The Making of French Canada — a Cultural History Google Scholar

Moogk, Peter. "Reluctant Exiles: Emigrants from France in Canada before 1760." William and Mary Quarterly 46.3 (July 1989): 463-505. Reluctant Exiles: Emigrants from France in Canada before 1760 William and Mary Quarterly 46 463 505 Google Scholar

Nixon, Virginia. Mary's Mother: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Europe. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State UP, 2004. Mary's Mother: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Europe Google Scholar

Parish, Helen. Monks, Miracles and Magic: Reformation Representations of the Medieval Church. London: Routledge, 2005. Monks, Miracles and Magic: Reformation Representations of the Medieval Church Google Scholar

Porter, John R. "La Dévotion à la Sainte-Famille." Le Grand Héritage: L'Église catholique et les arts au Québec. Québec: Musée du Québec, 1984. 55-72. Le Grand Héritage: L'Église catholique et les arts au Québec 55 72 Google Scholar

Senault, Jean-François. Panégyriques des Saints. Paris: Pierre le Petit, 1658. Panégyriques des Saints Google Scholar

Watt, Jeffery R. "The Impact of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation." Family Life in Early Modern Times, 1500-1789. Eds. David I. Kertzer and Marzio Barbagli. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. 125-54. Family Life in Early Modern Times, 1500-1789 125 54 Google Scholar

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Details

Author details

Dunn, Mary