Lac La Biche - History - Religious Communities

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Propagation

As this letter by one of the Sisters of Charity illustrates, food shortage was a specter that continually haunted Lac La Biche Mission. However Lac La Biche Mission was fortunate in having several different sources of food: the lake, crops, and hunting. It was rare for all three to fail simultaneously.

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St. Joseph’s Hospice, Lac La Biche, April 12th, 1875

Letter to Sister Charlebois, Assistant General
General Hospital, Montreal.

Dearest Sister Assistant General,

I received your short note, dated December 16th, with the mail on March 2nd. I read and reread the comforting little note with such strong feelings of gratitude that tears were streaming down my face. My heart was beating so quickly as, for the first time in my life, I find myself in a position where we so urgently need the assistance for which you given us cause to hope.

Dearest Mother, words cannot express the feelings that your maternal devotion inspires in our hearts. Let me tell you, our affection for you could not be greater, but you have now multiplied the reasons for the immense gratitude that we always hold for you in our hearts.

You’ve asked that I describe our dear Mission for you, and this wish is an order that I must obey. I fear, however, that you will regret having asked for these details, as they are so grim.

Since my arrival in Lac La Biche, the good Lord has put us through various ordeals. Early frost destroyed our harvests; sickness has paid us visits on several occasions, and other extraordinary and unforeseen events all had a hand in practically reducing us to beggary. It was fortunate that His Grace, Bishop Grandin, managed to help us in time, as we would have suffered so terribly.

You know this venerable prelate. We could never adequately describe the kindness that he has shown us. This Saintly Bishop made such immense sacrifices in order to offer us aid!

Much has changed since your visit to Lac La Biche, some of which I have already mentioned in previous letters. It is the dawn of a new era! Good things are happening, albeit on a small scale due to our extreme poverty. We currently have fourteen poor little girls and one orphan, as well as five boarders and some day pupils from time to time. All winter we took in little girls in order to prepare them for their First Communion; we were forced to put them up in the kitchen, and it goes without saying that it put the poor cooks in an awkward position. If we only had space in which to accommodate these poor little backwoods children, we would have the means to transform them into fervent Christians.

After witnessing the degrading environment in which so many of these little girls have been raised, one can only sigh with relief when they express their justifiable wish to become Christians. Oh, how we suffer, not being able to offer assistance in such miserable situations.

One of the heaviest crosses that our missionaries must bear is to watch so many souls that were paid for with the blood of Our Savior Jesus Christ fall into the depths of despair, when just a little bit of charity could help us to prevent such irreparable wretched hardship. As much as they depend on us, we use all of our resources just to sooth the most neglected. This winter, as a start, we recruited the three oldest wise women from nearby savage tribes to help them obtain the grace of God through Holy Baptism. One of the Reverend Fathers would visit them several times a day to perform the catechism in Cree. Either the parlor or the entry served as their room, their dormitory, their refectory, their wash house, etc. They always kept their little stove red hot; when the wood was all ablaze, they would open the big door to watch the fire crackle; it took little time for the house to be filled with smoke, and our dear savages were shocked when we asked them to close the stove door, not understanding that something so delightful would be inconvenient for us. On March 9th, one of them who missed her community too much to stay was baptized before leaving. She was given the baptismal name of Marie; her savage name is Wiyasi Kiepehùsk. Through their steadfastness and cheery dispositions, our other two savages secured, besides the grace of baptism, the ineffable joy to partake in the feast of the Eucharist on Low Sunday, where their behavior could have been set as an example to all Christians. We were simply enlightened by their angelic fervor; a heavenly ray illuminated their decrepit bodies. We were pleased merely to gaze upon them.

Oh, this was our ample reward for the troubles that they had unknowingly caused us! In sharing with us some of the events of their lives, they explained, "We have always asked the Great Spirit to show us the right path to follow. He has now heard us, and never again will we do wrong." They left us to return home on April 6th. The goodbyes were touching; it was painful for me to watch them leave the mission, and they also felt the sadness. Their names are Marie-Rose Otenaskamikapiû and Marie-Adèle, descendant of Gladu, whose name she uses. We never knew her savage name.

Let me return to speak of our dear children. All of our hopes for the future depend on the growth of this little seed. Our joyful and interesting group of little girls is composed of one Canadian, eleven Canadian-Cree half-breeds, three Canadian-Porter (savages from the Rocky Mountains) half-breeds, one American-Porter half-breed, and three little Cree savages. Many of these good children read very well in French and in English, write passably, and are able to do basic arithmetic. In particular, two little Cree girls distinguish themselves by their remarkable talents.

Catherine Kakékamic has been with us only twenty months; when we first welcomed here, she was a pitiful sight to see: at seven years old, she was no bigger than a small three-year old, and she had suffered from such awful treatment that she could not understand a word of French. Today, this little one is able to read French well, she’s starting to count and to write, and she knows all her prayers in French and a handful in Latin. Her little sister, Angélique, who is five years old and has only been with us since last October, spells very well in her workbook, and can clearly recite the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail mary, and the Apostle’s Creed, all by herself. The other day, the Reverend Father Leduc was sitting in on one of the children’s exams, and he could scarcely believe his eyes and ears. Truly, these poor, backwoods children lack neither in talent, nor in spirit, nor in heart, but rather they are just lacking in culture. Oh, if only we had the resources, what good we could do!

On April 4th, five of our students participated in their First Communion. It was beautiful and touching to watch them. That day, there were twenty-two First Communions in total, including our two dear old savages and one protestant woman who abjured her former faith only a few days earlier. I forgot to tell you before that this protestant boarder has been here for eighteen months, and having abjured her Protestantism, she was baptized on this past beautiful Christmas day, and had the happiness of receiving her First Communion on Ascension Day. She says that she wants to spend the rest of her life here; her brother, albeit a Protestant, will let her remain as long as she desires.

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