From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Reborn and Fed by the Spirit   
      
      "And then that rebirth, which brings about the forgiveness of all   
   past sins, takes place in the Holy Spirit, according to the Lord's own   
   words, 'Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot enter   
   the kingdom of God.' But it is one thing to be born of the Spirit,   
   another to be fed by the Spirit; just as it is one thing to be born of   
   the flesh, which happens when a mother gives birth, and another to be   
   fed from the flesh, which appears when she nurses the baby. We see the   
   child turn to drink with delight from the bosom of her who brought it   
   forth to life. Its life continues to be nourished by the same source   
   which brought it into being."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Sermon 71.19)   
      
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   May 6th - St. Francis de Laval, Canada’s First Shepherd   
   (1623-1708)   
      
   New France at one time embraced all of North America apart from the   
   American seaboard and the Hispanic Southwest. Eventually its control   
   receded, but it had meanwhile established the Province of Quebec as a   
   Francophile and Catholic territory. Francis Laval, the first bishop of   
   Quebec, had had a strong influence in confirming its Gallic character   
   and Catholic identity.   
      
   His full name was Francois de Montmorency Laval. He was born in   
   Normandy, the third son of a soldier of high aristocratic level.   
   Destined for the priesthood according to custom, but also according to   
   his own content, Francis entered the royal college of LaFleche, the   
   most famous of French Jesuit schools, at the age of nine. At age 12,   
   according to the contemporary church practice, he was admitted to the   
   clergy and named a canon of Evreux by his uncle, the bishop of that   
   diocese. At 19 he transferred to the Jesuit College de Clermont in   
   Paris for his theological studies. There he associated with a number   
   of zealous young seminarians who would eventually found the Seminary   
   of Foreign Missions. Laval would have been ordained a priest before   
   1647, but the death in quick succession of his father and two older   
   brothers left him heir to the family responsibilities, and he had to   
   take time off to attend to them. Meanwhile, named archdeacon of the   
   diocese of Evreux, he attended devotedly to the duties of that   
   administrative office.   
      
   In 1653, Pope Innocent X appointed him vicar apostolic of Tonkin,   
   Indochina, today Vietnam. (French Jesuits had established a stable   
   mission there as early as 1615.) But ecclesiastical intrigue, war,   
   traveling conditions, and renewed family obligations conspired against   
   his setting out at once for Asia. From 1655 to 1658 he lived at the   
   “Hermitage”, a retreat house at Caen, in the practice of piety and   
   good works. This stay brought him into close contact with some of the   
   leading spiritual reformers of the time. He was deeply influenced by   
   the teachings of Jean de Bernieres-Bertigny, the lay mystic who had   
   founded the “Hermitage”.   
      
   Finally Rome named him titular bishop of Petraea and vicar apostolic,   
   not of Tonkin but of Quebec! Consecrated a bishop in Paris on December   
   8, 1658, he arrived in Quebec City June 16, 1659.   
      
   At that time French Canada was a typical frontier settlement. Quebec   
   City had only 500 inhabitants, and Canada no more than 2200 souls, all   
   struggling to make a living but fearful of being destroyed at any   
   moment by the Iroquois Indians. The colony needed, above all, a strong   
   shepherd. Laval proved to be the ideal leader: a churchman of vision,   
   a patriot who was still not afraid to defend the Church when civil   
   officials interfered; a nobleman who could command, yet was himself a   
   pattern of humility and devotion.   
      
   The new Vicar Apostolic left the Indian missions in the care of his   
   friends the Jesuits, although he later invited Recollect Franciscans   
   to work in the local mission field. He personally baptized in a solemn   
   ceremony, one of the outstanding Iroquois converts, the noble Onondaga   
   chieftain Garakontie. He was tireless in his visitations, which   
   entailed difficult travels through wild country. He encouraged the   
   Catholics to practice religious devotions, especially to the Holy   
   Family, the Immaculate Conception, and Saint Anne (the cult of St.   
   Anne developed at Beaupre during his episcopate).   
      
   Laval’s focus on education was thorough and durable. He set up a   
   complete educational system: primary, classical and technical, largely   
   with his personal funds. He also founded a seminary (1663) that became   
   both the source and center of his diocesan priesthood, and an   
   institution paralleling the famous Seminary of Foreign Missions in   
   France. Out of his seminary would arise, in 1852, Laval University,   
   which subsequently acquired a Montreal branch as well. In 1668 the   
   bishop also initiated a minor seminary. Obedient to the instructions   
   of the King, he admitted Native American boys as candidates for the   
   priesthood to this “little seminary”, but priestly and religious   
   vocations would always be rare among the Indians. In 1674 Quebec was   
   created a diocese, the first in Canada, and Msgr. Laval was, of   
   course, named its bishop.   
      
   Laval’s greatest struggle was against the liquor trade. The liquor   
   merchants exploited the Indians’ weakness for firewater, and were in   
   danger of corrupting them completely. Eventually, after much   
   consultation, Bishop Laval decreed excommunication for those liquor   
   sellers whose greed made them enemies of all Canadian society.   
   Excommunication helped solve the problem, but it gained for Laval many   
   enemies in business and government.   
      
   The first bishop of Quebec loved Canada and contributed greatly not   
   only to its piety but to good government, law enforcement, and even   
   military security. In 1688 he retired, worn out by his tireless   
   efforts. Personally, he was devout, self-denying, and devoted to the   
   poor.   
      
   On June 22, 1980, he was declared “blessed” by Pope John Paul II.   
   Beatified on this same occasion were Marie Guyard, foundress of the   
   Canadian Ursulines, and Kateri Tekakwitha, “Lily of the Mohawks”. They   
   were three great heroes of pioneer Quebec!   
   –Father Robert F. McNamara   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Take care not to meddle in things which do not concern you, nor even   
   allow them to pass through your mind; for perhaps you will not then be   
   able to fulfil your own task.   
   --St. John of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that   
   seeketh the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no   
   injustice in him.   
   [John 7:18] DRV   
      
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