Life of Venerable Sister Margaret Bourgeois

In 1620 the Prince of Conde conferred the viceroyalty of Canada on the Marechal de Montmorenci, his brother-in-law, who in turn bestowed it on the Duke de Ventadour, his nephew. Until this period the affairs of the colony had been entirely in the hands of Protestants, who sought nothing but material wealth. Everything was languishing, and there were not more than fifty persons at Quebec. Some Jesuit Fathers arrived this year, having been sent over to assist the Recollets, and it was proposed to exclude Protestants from the colony, as they were becoming more numerous than was convenient for a Catholic settlement. Cardinal Richelieu, then minister of France, during the minority of Louis XIII., lent them his powerful assistance in their designs for the glory of God. By an edict dated May, 1627, given at the camp before La Rochelle, all the old Commercial Companies of Canada were suppressed and dissolved, new ones being