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During the seventeenth century, it was
the clergy who took care of the education of children, proceeded with the
creation of schools, and saw to their financing. The clergy recruited, trained,
approved, oversaw and, if necessary, recalled lay teachers. They set down rules
of use for the schools through the bishops, who were responsible for visiting
the schools, for teaching catechism and for the approval of new teaching
communities. As for the State, its responsibilities limited it to supporting the
rulings of the bishops, as well as granting lands and seigneuries to religious
communities, and dispensing annual subsidies to support Native missions.
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Efforts of the Clergy
In addition to the numerous foundations set up by
Monseigneur de Laval, several ecclesiastics devoted their time and their
personal resources to the establishment of infant schools. For example, the
curé Lamy gave his revenues straight to the sisters of the
Congrégation Notre-Dame at Sainte-Famille, Île
d’Orléans in 1686. As for the Jesuits, who were already toiling
away in Quebec City, they obtained permission to open a college in Montreal in
1692 to teach Classics, although the State refused to subsidize it. The
institution remained a simple Latin school which also offered mathematics
courses. At Lévis, the curé Philippe Boucher opened an
infant school for boys in 1695. Students there learned to read and write, in
addition to learning the basics of Latin. Abbé Soumande did the same at
Saint-Joachim in 1701.
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Clergyman in period costume
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Participation of the State
Financial support from the State was irregular, and
was often motivated by self-interest. For example, wishing to train colonial
navigators, Louis XIV granted 400 livres for the annual salary of a royal
hydrographer in 1686. He later increased this sum to enable the Jesuits to teach
the arts of navigation at their college in Quebec City. Around the same time,
Marguerite Bourgeoys received 1,000 livres from the King on the
recommendation of the Intendant, in order to buy wool and sewing supplies for
her Native students in Montreal. In 1722, the King granted 3,000 livres
to the Charron Brothers, who taught in the rural parishes of Montreal. This
amount covered the salaries of itinerant teachers, the construction of a school,
and the purchase of school supplies.
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Efforts of the Clergy
