When he arrived in Louisbourg in 1737 he was told by Pierre
Maillard that he would be working with the Micmacs and that the
first thing he had to do was learn their language. Maillard himself
would be his teacher. After ten months, Maillard considered him
sufficiently fluent to begin his pastoral work. He appointed him to
Shubenacadie, between Truro and Halifax.
This territory was under British control and no priest had been there
for twelve years. Le Loutre promised to keep the local Acadians and
Micmacs loyal to the British government. The Lieutenant Governor
wrote to him, "I trust you will keep your promise," and
"the esteem I have for you leaves no room to doubt that you will
be disposed to help maintain peace, law, and justice." Le Loutre
did keep his promise for four years. Then he handed over the care of
the Acadians to another Spiritan in order to work full-time among the
Micmacs. As a missionary among the Indians he did not feel "in
any way subject to the government." These were a free and
independent people as far as he was concerned.
The British government accused him of leading the combined
French-Micmac attack against Port Royal (Annapolis) in 1744, so he
thought it better to make his escape to Quebec with a band of
Micmacs. From there he set out for Halifax to meet a French fleet,
But only a remnant of the fleet made it across the Atlantic. Their
badly organized, disease ridden ships returned to France and Jean Le
Loutre went with them to plead with the French on behalf of the
Acadians and Micmacs.
On the return voyage, he was captured at sea by the British. He
pretended to be M. l'abbé Rosanvern, the ship's chaplain. It
did not work: he spent three months in an English jail. A year later
he was at sea again with the same result, except that this time he
received a one-month sentence.
In the 1748 peace treaty between France and England, Louisbourg was
given back into French control and Jean Le Loutre was free to return
to Acadia.
From Halifax, Governor Cornwallis ordered the Acadians to swear
unconditional allegiance to the British flag, to renounce their
neutrality and to be willing to fight the French. Le Loutre
interpreted this oath of loyalty as meaning they would also have to
become Protestants, so he resolutely decided to defend the Acadians
and the Micmacs against Cornwallis. However, he was not totally on
the side of the Micmacs; he bought the freedom of several British
prisoners captured by the Micmacs. He wanted to wean them away from
scalping their prisoners of war.
Many Acadians had resettled along the shore of the Bay of Fundy and
Jean Le Loutre wished to see Beausejour (Cumberland) established as
the centre of a new Acadia where the people could live in peace and
security. He rallied both Acadians and Micmacs to rebuild its
fortifications and dikes as well as to construct a new church.
The next accusation the British brought against him was that he was
an accomplice to the murder of a Captain Edward How at a truce
conference between the English and the Micmacs.
In 1755 the Governor of New England sent 5000 soldiers from Boston to
attack Beausejour. Le Loutre escaped before the town surrendered,
after having agreed with the defenders' decision to set fire to the
newly built church rather than have it fall into Protestant hands.
He went to Quebec and then to France, but on the way across the
Atlantic he was once again captured at sea. This time he was
sentenced to eight years in jail in Jersey. Upon his release, he
spent the last nine years of his life ministering to the 2500 or so
Acadians who had survived the Grand Derangement that followed the
fall of Beausejour and had settled in and around St. Malo, Brittany.
Late in life, Fr. Le Loutre wrote a revealing autobiographical
sentence. "By making a nuisance of myself, I hope to
succeed." On his death, the Chairman of the French Navy Board
wrote of him: "He has neither goods nor income because he has
spent his entire personal inheritance for the welfare of his missions
and in aiding the poor."
To the historians, officers and political figures who opposed them,
the 18th century Spiritan missionaries were "a set of rascally
priests." The most "rascally" of all was undoubtedly
Fr. Jean Le Loutre:
"Unquestionably religious, but a fanatic&ldots;
The Missionary most devoted to the cause of justice that Acadia ever possessed...
Greatly renowned for his sanctity."
Religion and Justice - Religion and Politics: "What belongs to
Caesar, what belongs to God?"A question as perplexing in our
times as it was in the time of Jesus, as it was in the time of Jean
Le Loutre.
Fr. Pat
Fitzpatrick, CSSp
Spiritan
Missionary News, Oct. 1994
Edited
for website: Fr. Paul McAuley, CSSp
*picture: Public Archives of Canada
Welcome
to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a
Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members,
founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be
found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated
ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the
Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your
visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your
prayers. May God bless you.
