It was eleven o'clock at night, when I consented to sign this
document, which was to be handed to the bishop and have any
value, only on the above conditions. The two deputies were
besides themselves with joy, at the success of their mission, and
at my readiness to sacrifice myself for the sake of peace. Mons.
Desaulnier said:
"Now we see, evidently, that Chiniquy has been right with
his people from the beginning, that he never meant to create a
schism and to put himself at the head of a rebellious party, to
defy the authority of the church. If the bishop does not want to
live in peace with the people and pastor of St. Anne, after such
a sacrifice, we will tell him that it is not Chiniquy, but Bishop
O'Regan, who wants a schism—we will appeal to the Pope—I
will go with Chiniquy, and we will easily get, there, the removal
of that Bishop from the diocese of Chicago."
Mr. Brassard confirmed that sentence, and added that he,
also, would accompany me to Rome to be the witness of my innocence
and the bad conduct of the bishop. He added that it
would not take him a week to raise twice the amount of money
in Montreal, we would require to go to Rome.
After thanking them for what they had done and said, I
asked Mr. Desaulnier if he would be brave enough to repeat
before my whole people what he had just said before me and
Mr. Brassard, in the presence of God.
"Surely, I would be most happy to repeat berore your
whole people, that it is impossible to find fault with you in what
you have done till now. But you know very well, I will never
have such an opportunity, for it is now 11 o'clock at night,
your people are soundly sleeping, and I must start to-morrow
morning, at six o'clock, to take the Chicago train at Kankakee
at 8 A. M.
I answered: "All right!"
We knelt together to make a short prayer, and I led them
to their rooms, wishing them refreshing sleep, after the hard
work of the day.
Ten minutes later I was in the village, knocking at the doors
of six of my most respectable parishioners, and telling them
"Please do not lose a moment, go with your fastest horse to
such and such a part of the colony; knock at every door and tell
the people to be at the church at 5 o'clock in the morning to hear
with their own ears what the deputies from Canada have to say
about past struggles with the Bishop of Chicago. Tell them to
be punctual at 5 o'clock in their pews, where the deputies will
address them words which they must hear at any cost."
A little before five, the next morning, Mr. Desaulnier, full
of surprise and anxiety, knocked at my door, and said:
"Chiniquy, do you not hear the strange noise of buggies
and carriages, which seem to be coming from every quarter of
the globe? What does it mean? Has your people become
crazy, to come to church at this dark hour, so long before the
dawn of day?"
"What! what!" I answered, "I was sleeping so soundly
that I have heard nothing yet. What do you mean by this
noise of carriages and buggies around the chapel? Are you
dreaming?"
"No, I am not dreaming," he answered, "not only do I hear
the noise of a great many carriages, wagons and buggies; but
though it is pretty dark, I see several hundred of them around
the chapel. I hear the voices of a great multitude of men,
women, and even children, putting questions to each other, and
giving answers which I cannot understand. They make such
a noise by their laughing and jokes! Can you tell me what
this means? I have never been so puzzled in my life."
I answered him: "Do you not see that you are dreaming.
Let me dress myself that I may go and see something of that
strange and awful dream!"
Mr. Brassard, though a little more calm than Desaulnier.
was not, himself, without some anxiety at the strange noise of
that multitude of carriages, horses and people around my house
and chapel, at such an hour. Knocking at my door, he said,
"Please, Chiniquy, explain that strange mystery. Do that people
come to play us some bad trick, and punish us for intruding
in their affairs?"
"Be quiet," I answered, "my dear friends. You have nothing
to fear from that good and intelligent people. Do you not remember
that, last night, a few minutes before 11 o'clock, Desaulnier
said that he would be honest and brave enough to repeat
before my whole people what he had said before you and me,
and in the presence of God. I suppose that some of the angels
of heaven have heard those words, and have carried them, this
night, to every family, inviting them to be here at the chapel,
that they might hear from your own lips, what you think of the
grand and glorious battle they are fighting in this distant land,
for the principles of truth and justice, as the gospel secures them
to every disciple of Christ."
"Well! well!" said Desaulnier, "there is only one Chiniquy
in the world to take me in such a trap, and there is only one
people under heaven to do what this people is doing here. I
would never have given you that answer, had I not been morally
sure that I would never have had an opportunity to fulfill
it. Who would think you would play me such a trick? But,"
he added, "though I know that this will terribly compromise
me before certain parties, it is too late to retract, and I will fulfill
my promise."
It is impossible to express my own joy and the joy of that
noble people when they heard, from the very lips of those deputies
that, after spending a whole day and two nights in examining
all that had been done by their pastor and by them in that
solemn and fearful contest, they declared that they had not broken
any law of God; nor of his holy church; and that they had kept
themselves in the very way prescribed by the canons.
Tears of joy were rolling down every cheek when they
heard Mr. Desaulnier telling them, which Mr. Brassard confirmed
after, that the bishop had no possible right to interdict their
pastor, since he had told them that he was one of his best
priests; and that they had done well not to pay any attention to
an act of excommunication which was a sham and a sacrilegious
comedy, not having been signed nor certified by any known
person. Both deputies said:
"Mr. Brassard will be your pastor, and Mr. Chiniquy, as his
vicar, will remain in your midst. He has signed an act of submission,
which we have found sufficient, on the condition that
the bishop will let you live in peace, and withdraw the sentence
he says he has fulminated against you. If he does not accept
those conditions, we will tell him, it is not Mr. Chiniquy, but
you, who wants a schism, and we will go with Mr. Chiniquy to
Rome, to plead his cause and prove his innocence before his
holiness."
After this, we all knelt to thank and bless God; and never
people went back to their homes with more cheerful hearts than
the people of St. Anne, on that morning of the 25th of November,
1856.
At six o'clock A. M., Mr. Desaulnier was on his way back to
Chicago, to present my conditional act of submission to the
bishop, and press him, in the name of the Bishop of Canada, and
in the name of all the most sacred interests of the church, to accept
the sacrifice and the submission of the people of St. Anne,
and to give them the peace they wanted and were purchasing at
such a price. The Rev. Mr. Brassard had remained with me,
waiting for a letter from the bishop to accompany me and put
the last seal to our reconciliation.
The next day he received the following note from Mr.
Desaulnier:
