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Monthly Archives: April 2015

Quebec’s Language Laws

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Quebec

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Bill 101, Bill 22, Bombardier, Language Laws, SNC Lavalin

640px-Outside_Union_Station

Monument to Multiculturalism by Francesco Pirelli in Toronto; four identical sculptures are located in Buffalo City, Changchun, Sarajevo, and Sydney (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Canada is an officially multicultural society, but its official languages are English and French, with the exception of Quebec.

An Overview

Immigrants to Canada enter an officially bilingual country, by virtue of the Official Languages Act (Canada) of 1969 and the Official Languages Act of 1988.

The Official Languages Act of 1969

Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism

Canada became an officially bilingual country under the terms of the Official Languages Act (Canada), signed on 9 September 1969. Passage of the Official Languages Act (Canada) was the culmination of an inquiry conducted by the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, established by Prime Minister and Nobel laureate Lester B. Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE on 19 July 1963. The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism is sometimes called the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission. André Laurendeau, the editor-in-chief of Le Devoir, Quebec’s leading newspaper, and Davidson Dunton, the President of Carleton University, co-chaired the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The findings of the Commission indicated that French-speaking Canadians were at a disadvantage and lived on a lower income than English-speaking Canadians and Italian immigrants. (See Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Wikipedia.)

Laurendeau & Dunton
Laurendeau & Dunton
Dunton & Laurendeau
Dunton & Laurendeau

The Official Language Act (Quebec) 1974

Canada’s two official languages are French and English. However, since 1974, by virtue of the Official Language Act (Quebec) (Bill 22) the children of immigrants who choose to live in Quebec must attend a French-language school. Bill 22 was replaced by (Bill 101) or Charter of the French Language, a stiffer language law passed in 1977 by the Parti québécois (Parti Quécébois in English). Under Bill 22 and Bill 101, only children born to a Quebec English-Canadian parent and a French-speaking Canadian could attend an English-language school. This law was amended to include an English-Canadian parent born outside Quebec.

Bill 22 was a Law to promote the French language in Quebec (Loi pour promouvoir la langue française au Québec). It superseded Bill 63 passed in 1969, when l’Union Nationale leader Jean-Jacques Bertrand was premier of Quebec. Premier Bertrand was in office from 1968 to 1970. Bill 63, presented by Jean-Guy Cardinal, Quebec’s Minister of Education, in 1969, allowed parents to enrol their children in either French-language or English-language schools.

In 1970, the Parti libéral du Québec, led by Robert Bourassa, was voted into office. Four years later, under the leadership of Robert Bourassa, Quebec’s Official Language Act (Quebec), or Bill 22, was passed. It made French the only official language of Quebec. For Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Bill 22 was a “slap in the face.” (See Charter of the French Language, Wikipedia.) It had been a mere five years since Canada had become an officially bilingual country.

Robert Bourassa lost the 1976 provincial election to Parti Quécébois founder and leader René Lévesque, whose government passed Bill 101, or the Charter of the French Language, a stricter enactment of Bill 22.

The Charter of the French Language

Education
Unilingual posting

The main purpose of Quebec’s Bill 22 and Bill 101 was to ensure that the children of immigrants to Quebec enrolled in French-language schools. Given its rapidly decreasing birthrate, Quebec began transforming immigrants into Québécois. This movement started in Saint-Léonard with the closure of an English-language school attended primarily by the children of Italian immigrants. People protested, at times violently. Bill 63 gave citizens the freedom of choice, causing indignation on the part of a sizable group of French-speaking Québécois.

http://www.panoramitalia.com/en/arts-culture/history/saint-leonard-conflict-language-legislation-quebec/2325/

http://larevolutiontranquille.ca/en/the-bill-63.php

However, the Charter of the French Language also required that Quebecers live in visibly French communities, hence unilingual posting and penalties for “offenders.” Its chief agency was and remains the Office québécois de la langue française, established in 1961 by Quebec Premier Jean Lesage, PC, CC, CD. Related agencies are the Conseil supérieur de la langue française, the office regulating toponymie, the naming of places, and other groups. The Charter of the French Language, la Chartre de la langue française, was introduced by Camille Laurin. 

The Referendums: 1980 & 1995

Quebec held two referendums on a renegotiation of Quebec’s ties with the government of Canada, or souveraineté-association (sovereignty-association). The first took place in 1980, two years before Quebec failed to sign Constitution Act of 1982. The second was held in 1995 but the result was too close to represent a clear “yes” or “no.”  More than 49% of the population of Quebec voted “yes.” The response of the Federal government (Ottawa) was the Clarity Act. The Clarity Act “was passed by the House on March 15, 2000, and by the Senate, in its final version, on June 29, 2000.”  (Wikipedia). The Quebec Government’s response to Ottawa’s response was the Act respecting the exercise of the fundamental rights and prerogatives of the Québec people and the Québec State, passed two days after the Clarity Act.

Remedial Measures

  • The Official Languages Act (Canada) of 1988
  • The Clarity Act of 15 March 2000
  • The Québécois nation motion of November 27, 2006

The Québécois nation motion, a  parliamentary motion tabled by Prime Minister  Stephen Harper, Canada’s current prime minister, was approved by the House of Commons of Canada on Monday, 27 November 2006. The English motion read: “That this House recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.” I am quoting Wikipedia.

In French, the motion read: “Que cette Chambre reconnaisse que les Québécoises et les Québécois forment une nation au sein d’un Canada uni.” (See Québécois nation motion, Wikipedia). This does not differ much from the souveraineté-association concept put forward by the Parti Québécois.

Bill 101 has been deemed unconstitutional and an infringement of Human Rights, but it has not been rescinded and schools are filled up with French-speaking Quebecers originating from various countries.

Chronology of the Language Laws

  1. Constitution Act, 1867: Section 133, but no official languages
  2. Laurendeau-Dunton Commission (1963 – 1969)
  3. Official Languages Act of 1969
  4. 1969: Act to promote the French Language in Quebec (Bill 63) http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/charte/reperes/Loi_63.pdf
  5. 1974: Official Language Act of 1974 (Bill 22)FR & EN http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/charte/reperes/Loi_22.pdf
  6. 1977: Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) EN http://www.canlii.org/en/qc/laws/stat/rsq-c-c-11/latest/rsq-c-c-11.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_on_Bilingualism_and_Biculturalism
  7. 1988: Official Languages Act of 1988
    http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-3.01/FullText.html

—ooo—

Temporary Conclusion

Bill 115

http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/after-24-hours-of-debate-english-education-bill-becomes-law-1.564054

Bills allowing education in English in Quebec have been passed. One such bill is Bill 115, passed in 2010. However, I am excluding discussion of Bills making access to English-language schools easier from this post because I need to close it. All I will write is that Bill 101 has been amended six times and that Bill 115 facilitates an English-language education.

Bill 101 is problematical in that it is at cross-purposes with the Official Languages Act of 1969 and the Official Languages Act of 1988. It is also at cross-purposes with a finding and appropriate recommendation of the Laurendeau-Dunton commission: greater prosperity for French-speaking Canadians.

We live in a world where business is often conducted in the English language, which does not mean that one has to unlearn French. I know people who spent a lifetime being impeccably French in an English-language milieu.

Immigrants to Quebec have to attend French-language schools, which seems perfectly acceptable. Quebec needs Québécois. But this does not and should not preclude learning English. English is taught in French-language schools. Why should Quebecers isolate themselves?

Learning other languages is not necessarily detrimental to mastery of one’s mother tongue. Québécois live in French-language milieu. No one has to leave that milieu. In fact Quebec offers two main milieu: a French-language milieu and an English-language milieu. In this regard, Montreal is la crème de la crème as an environment. It is home to thousands of immigrants from all over the world.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Quebec built the Manicouagan Reservoir and there is further untapped wealth in Northern Quebec. Moreover Quebec has large enterprises, such as Bombardier and SNC Lavalin. These have offices abroad.

There’s nothing wrong with a little prosperity.

My kindest regards to all of you.♥

Félix Leclerc sings “L’Écharpe” (The Scarf)
photo14© Micheline Walker
26 April 2015
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The Quebec Act of 1774

21 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Quebec, Quebec history

≈ Comments Off on The Quebec Act of 1774

Tags

Canada, French-speaking population, Quebec Act 1774, Royal Proclamation 1763, Sir Guy Carleton, Treaty of Paris 1763

Fathers_of_Confederation_LAC_c001855

1885 photo of Robert Harris‘ 1884 painting, Conference at Quebec in 1864, to settle the basics of a union of the British North American Provinces, also known as The Fathers of Confederation. The original painting was destroyed in the 1916 Parliament Buildings Centre Block fire. The scene is an amalgamation of the Charlottetown and Quebec City conference sites and attendees. (Caption and photo credit: Wikipedia)

The French Language in Canada

My next post is about the controversial language laws passed in the Province of Quebec in the 1970s: Bill 22, the Official Language Act, Quebec (1974), and Bill 101, or Charter of the French Language (1977). However, it would be useful to know how many citizens spoke French in the years that followed what many Quebecers still call the “conquest” until the last census.

French-speaking population

1663: 3,000
1712: 20,000
1760: 70,000
2011: 7.3 million

According to Wikipedia, the population of New France was 3,000 in 1663. It grew to 20,000 in 1712 and then jumped to 70,000 in 1760, the year the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (13 September 1760) was fought. (The plains belonged to an individual named Abraham.) At the moment. At the moment, “French is the mother tongue of about 7.3 million Canadians (22% of the Canadian population, second to English at 58.4%) according to Census Canada 2011.” (See French language in Canada, Wikipedia.)

This information takes us to and beyond the Official Languages Act (Canada), which recognized Canada as an officially bilingual country. The Official Languages Act became effective on 9 September 1969.

The Treaty of Paris, 1763

At the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War, also referred to as the French and Indian War, France chose to cede New France (Canada and Acadie) to Britain. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), France kept its sugar-rich Caribbean Colonies and the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland. French fishermen had been fishing in that area for centuries. (See Seigneurial system of New France, Wikipedia.)

Although it ceded New France to Britain, by virtue of the Treaty of Paris (1763), France did not do so unconditionally. The inhabitants of New France would continue to speak French and practice their religion (Roman Catholicism). Moreover, they would retain their Seigneurial System, which was not abolished until 1854. (See The Royal Proclamation of 1763, Wikipedia.)

General Sir Guy Carleton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

General Sir Guy Carleton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Canadian_militiamen_and_British_soldiers_repulse_the_American_assault_at_Sault-au-Matelot

British soldiers and Provincial militiamen repulse the American assault at Sault-au-Matelot, Canada, December 1775, by William Jefferys (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Quebec Act of 1774

Motivation
Benefits to Quebec

England could have reneged on its promises, but its Thirteen Colonies, running down the east coast of the current United States, were threatening to become independent of their motherland, Britain. The Declaration of Independence was promulgated on 4 July 1776 and, in 1783, the Thirteen Colonies won the American Revolutionary War, with the support of France.

General Sir Guy Carleton, 1st baron Dorchester

Guy Carleton, 1st baron Dorchester KB, may have felt Britain could need the help of Quebecers and their Amerindian allies in order to fight rebellious “Americans.” This could be the case, but the status the “Quebec Act” gave French-speaking Canadians tends to outweigh other considerations. Moreover, the Act was unsolicited.

Be that as it may, in 1774, the “Quebec Act” was proclaimed. The “Quebec Act” was a British statute which “received royal assent 22 June 1774 and became effective 1 May 1775.” As defined in the Canadian Encyclopedia, the “Quebec Act:”

  • expanded the territory of the Province of Quebec;
  • guaranteed religious freedom;
  • provided a “simplified Test Oath, which omitted references to religion, enabl[ing] them to enter public office conscientiously;”
  • “restored French civil law;”
  • “provided for the continued use of the Seigneurial system.”[1]  

According to Wikipedia, the following are the principal components of the Quebec Act:

  • The province’s territory was expanded to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota.
  • Reference to the Protestant faith was removed from the oath of allegiance.
  • It guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith.
  • It restored the use of the French civil law for matters of private law, except that in accordance with the English common law, it granted unlimited freedom of testation. It maintained English common law for matters of public law, including administrative appeals, court procedure, and criminal prosecution.
  • It restored the Catholic Church’s right to impose tithes.

“It would be easier to buy Canada than to try to conquer it.” Benjamin Franklin

Rebellious “Americans” did attack in 1775, but “the francophone upper classes allied themselves with the British. As a result, despite the capitulation of Montreal, the siege of Québec failed, prompting Benjamin Franklin’s famous statement that it would be easier to buy Canada than to try to conquer it.”[2]

Quebec was one of the four provinces that entered into the Canadian Confederation in 1867. It did so under the leadership of Sir George-Étienne Cartier, PC.

Conclusion

It would be my opinion that the Quebec Act of 1774 probably ensured the survival of French in Canada. As noted above, we owe the “Quebec Act” to Guy Carleton, 1st baron Dorchester  KB. It was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced The Royal Proclamation of 1763, temporary governance.

Until the Révolution tranquille, the 1960s, a very high birthrate, the revenge of the cradle(s) (la revanche des berceaux), and “colonisation,” settling north, also ensured the survival of French in Canada. But it is unlikely that a vibrant French Canada would have developed had it not been for the “Quebec Act” of 1774.

RELATED ARTICLES

* = fiction

  • Colonization & the Revenge of the Cradles (11 January 2014)
  • Alexis de Tocqueville on Lower Canada (1 Jan 2014)
  • Maria Chapdelaine (26 Jan 2012) (colonisation)*

Sources and Resources

  • Canadiana.ca
  • Canada in the Making
  • The Province of Quebec, Marianopolis College
  • The Canadian Encyclopedia: the Seigneurial System, the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Treaty of Paris 1763, the Quebec Act, Guy Carleton, Bill 22, Bill 101

My kindest regards to all of you.♥
____________________

[1] Foulds, Nancy Brown, “Quebec Act”, The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada, 2013. Web. 13 August 2013.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec-act/

[2] Ibid.

—ooo—

“Ô Canada! mon pays, mes amours” (press on the link to see the lyrics)
Sir George-Étienne Cartier PC, a Father of Confederation


clip_image002_033© Micheline Walker
20 April 2015
WordPress

(Photo credit: Marianopolis College)

 

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Austerity in Quebec, cont’d

16 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Quebec

≈ Comments Off on Austerity in Quebec, cont’d

Tags

Cutbacks, James Cross, October Crisis of 1970, Quebec's Language Acts, Taxpayers, The Canada Act of 1982

Study for Chapel of Château.1
Study for Chapel of Château.1
Study for Chapel of Château.2
Study for Chapel of Château.2
Study for Chapel of a Choir.3
Study for Chapel of a Choir.3

Paul-Émile Borduas, early works (1927)

In my last post, Austerity in Quebec (12 April 2015), I listed four of the changes, listed below, that occurred during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. I will expand on this subject but point to elements that were detrimental to the establishment of a welfare state, such as the fourth change and Canada’s language laws.

  • First, the province of Quebec was secularized. Quebec had been called the “priest-ridden” province.
  • Second, strong labour unions were formed.
  • Third, leaders all but promised a welfare state (l’État-providence).
  • Fourth, a terrorist group, the Quebec Liberation Front, was created within the separatist movement. It ceased to exist in 1970.

Precursors to the Quiet Revolution

Asbestos strike (la grève de l’amiante)
Refus global
Immigrants from Europe
Radio-Canada

I also mentioned a precursor to the Révolution tranquille (FR), the Asbestos strike (la grève de l’amiante) of 1949. However, a second precursor was Refus global (total refusal), a manifesto written by Paul-Émile Borduas (1 November 1905 – 22 February 1960) and signed by a group of artists calling themselves the Automatistes. This document was released on 9 August 1948. It is presented in two earlier posts.

  • Refus Global (Total Refusal) & the CBC (9 November 2012)
  • Refus Global & the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (6 November 2012)

A third and very important agent of change was the arrival in Quebec of a large group of French-speaking immigrants and other European immigrants. Prominent figures were, for example, Guy Hoffman (7 April 1916 – 6 March 1986) and Ludmilla Chiriaeff, CC GOQ (10 January 1924 – 22 September 1996).

Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde

Guy Hoffmann, a seasoned actor and director, arrived in Montreal in 1948. He joined Les Compagnons de Saint-Laurent, led by Émile Legault, c.s.c. (6 March 1986 – 28 August 1983) who founded the troupe in 1937. The troupe would grow into the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, (TNM), established in 1951.

Les Grands Ballets canadiens

As for ballerina Ludmilla Chiriaeff, born in Riga, Latvia, she brought ballet to Quebec  (see Les Grands Ballets, Wikipedia). Madame Chiriaeff arrived in Canada in 1952. Her company would become Les Grands Ballets canadiens. Both Guy Hoffmann and Ludmilla Chiriaeff settled in Montreal.

Radio-Canada and the National Film Board

Radio-Canada, the French-language counterpart of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the Office national du film (ONF), the National Film Board (NFB), became employers to French-speaking intellectuals and “personnalités”  (celebrities). During the fall and winter seasons, Radio-Canada showed televised series based on French-Canadian novels and most Sundays, a televised drama. On Saturday evening, everyone watched the hockey game. Quebecers were fans of the Canadiens.

Therefore, as Maurice Duplessis, “le Chef,” and members of the Union Nationale ruled from Quebec city, the Province of Quebec was changing. I remember my father’s “secret” suitcase he took to “secret” meetings.

imageserver.2

Sea Gull, by Paul-Émile Borduas, 1956 (National Gallery of Canada)

The Révolution tranquille

The above takes us to a new list of events and circumstances that militated against l’État-providence, or the welfare state, and isolated Quebec.

  1. Front de Libération du Québec (“Separatism”)
  2. October Crisis of 1970
  3. Official Language Act of 1974 (Bill 22)
  4. Charter of the French Language of 1977 (Bill 101)
  5. Canada Act of 1982

Separatism and the Front de Libération du Quebec

By 1960, Québec was ready for its Révolution tranquille. It was a vibrant community, but a community that had its “patriotes” and, among them, terrorists.

Bombs in Mailboxes

During the 1960s, the Front de libération du Québec, the FLQ, detonated 95 bombs. Most were placed inside mailboxes. According to Wikipedia:

“It was responsible for over 160 violent incidents which killed eight people and injured many more, including the bombing of the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1969.” (See Front de libération du Québec, Wikipedia.)

The October Crisis

On 5 October 1970, the Front de Libération du Québec kidnapped James Richard Cross, a former British diplomat and a senior trade commissioner. On 10 October, the Quebec Liberation Front also kidnapped Pierre Laporte, Quebec’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour. Pierre Laporte was “executed” on 17 October 1970. His body was found in the trunk of Paul Rose‘s car. Paul Rose was the leader of the Quebec Sovereignty Movement. He was convicted of the kidnapping and killing of Pierre Laporte. Mr Cross CMG was released on 10 December 1970.

During the October Crisis, Robert Bourassa, the Premier of Quebec, and Jean Drapeau, the Mayor of Montreal, both requested help on the part of the Federal government, or Ottawa. Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau declared the War Measures Act (Martial Law).

A postal box in Montreal bearing the graffiti FLQ oui (FLQ yes) in July 1971. The FLQ conducted several bombings of post boxes which typically bore a decal of the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada.
A postal box in Montreal bearing the graffiti FLQ oui (FLQ yes) in July 1971. The FLQ conducted several bombings of post boxes which typically bore a decal of the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada.
Liberation Cell Surrender, the Chenier Cell
Liberation Cell Surrender, the Chenier Cell

Language Legislation

Its language laws also militated against the establishment of a welfare state, l’État-providence. In 1974, five years after the Official Languages Act made Canada an officially bilingual country, the Quebec government passed its Official Languages, Act (1974), declaring Quebec a unilingual province. After René Lévesque‘s Parti québécois  was elected into power, Bill 22 was expanded into Bill 101: the Charter of the French Language.

The preservation and growth of the French language is the chief and legitimate goal of Quebec’s language laws, but these laws may be offensive to persons who view themselves as Canadians first and then Quebecers. It seems perfectly acceptable to require that Immigrants to Quebec learn French and that their children enrol in French-language schools. Yet Canada remains a bilingual country and promotes French. Besides, Acadians are French-speaking Canadians who live outside Québec, as do many French-speaking Canadians. There is a French-language Canada outside Quebec. I will add that Quebec language laws are at times rather petty.

Conclusion

I should note in closing that Quebec did not sign the Canada Act of 1982, or the patriation of the Constitution. The act was signed after the first referendum on sovereignty which took place on 20 May 1980. The 1980 referendum did not provide the Quebec government with a clear mandate to modify its ties with the Federal government, which is problematical. That matter has yet to be resolved but must be resolved because the status of Quebec within Canada is currently ambiguous.

At any rate, a welfare state seems impossible at the moment. In order to establish l’État-providence, a government needs a large number of taxpayers, but Quebec seems to drive taxpayers away mostly through language laws. The Couillard government could have raised taxes, except that Quebecers pay taxes to both the Provincial and Federal government and are the only Canadians to do so. Obviously, a little austerity is the better path to follow, provided it does not take bread away from the table and does not deprive people of a roof.

In my opinion, the first order of business is signing the Canada Act of 1982.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Austerity in Quebec (12 April 2015)
  • Refus Global (Total Refusal) & the CBC (9 November 2012)
  • Refus Global & the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (6 November 2012)
  • The October Crisis: “Just Watch Me” (29 October 2012)

Sources and Resources

Refus global (texte) FR
Refus global (text) EN

This post is somewhat incomplete. I am still feeling very weak. It’s time for spring to chase away winter. This was one of Quebec’s longest winters.

My best regards to all of you.♥ 

Félix Leclerc CC GOQ sings “Un soir de février”

images7S32UN13

Paul Rose (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
15 April 2015
(revised on 16 April 2015)
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Austerity in Quebec

12 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Quebec

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

A Welfare State, Austerity in Quebec, Joseph Charbonneau, La Révolution tranquille, Maurice Duplessis, Pro-Austerity, The Asbestos Strike of 1949, The Quiet Revolution

montreal-que-november-29-2014-people-take-part-in-an4

Demonstration in Montreal on 29 November 2014. Cutbacks had started. (Photo credit: lost)

images

Quebec Independence Flag (Photo credit: Google images)

This Year’s Budget: Cutbacks

On 29 March 2015, a friend and I attended a meeting of the Quebec Liberal Party. When we arrived, we had to be identified as legitimate guests. There were several police cars and police busses.

As we proceeded to the building where Sherbrooke members of the Quebec Liberal Party were meeting, we saw demonstrators kept at a ‘safe’ distance, if there is such a thing, by several policemen. This was not life as usual.

The problem was the following. Dr Philippe Couillard, Quebec’s Premier had trimmed down Quebec’s budget in order to pay the Province’s debt, and he would be visiting members of the Sherbrooke Parti Libéral du Québec (FR), the Quebec Liberal Party (EN), at the beginning of their meeting. Dr Couillard was not aware of the extent of the debt during his campaign. This matter has been resolved. On 29 March 2015, Dr Couillard stated that future candidates to the Premiership of Quebec would be aware of the province’s financial circumstances.

In short, cutbacks hurt, so people were demonstrating.

See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/quebec-budget-boosted-by-exports-on-track-for-235-billion-deficit/article21886430/
See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-quebec-liberal-mandate-has-been-hijacked/article22359789/

Loi-spéciale-78-Bill-protest

Protester displaying an anti Bill 78 sign on 22 May 2012 in Montreal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Student Strike: Bill 78

I would like to discuss the cutbacks and the population’s reaction in some detail. It is, for instance, a product of the Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille). However, this post cannot be exhaustive.

You may remember that, in 2012, Quebec students went “on strike.” For several decades they had paid the lowest tuition fees in Canada—they still do—but were facing an increase of “$325 per year over five years (or $1,625).” This was an increase of “75% over current rates.” (See: Bill 78.)

The 2012 student strike was disorderly. Several students were in fact prevented from completing their academic year on the date it was scheduled to end.

On 12 May 2012, Jean Charest’s government, Quebec’s Liberal Party, passed Bill 78, which, for instance, limited the extent to which students could protest. It had other provisions. However, students defied the bill.

On 20 May 2012, members of CLASSE (Coalition large de l’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante) voted to call for “continued protests and civil disobedience to oppose the new law, in addition to any increase in tuition.” (See Bill 78, Wikipedia.)

Allow me to quote Wikipedia further:

“Student Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, co-spokesperson for the student association CLASSE (Coalition large de l’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante), has urged the population to consider disobeying the law. Université de Montréal philosophy professor Daniel Weinstock has stated that the bill is a scare tactic to frighten students and student leaders.” (See: Bill 78.)

On 22 May 2012, 150,000 students protested in Montreal, defying the law. “After mass arrests on the nights of 22 and 23 May, daily protests where galvanized.”

Bill 78 was condemned by the Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. But the Quebec Council of Employers supported the bill because students had not complied with earlier court orders. In short, reactions varied. (See: Bill 78, Wikipedia.)

The Parti Québécois’ Involvement

One may not agree with the law, but it is in one’s best interest to respect it. As for opposition parties, I believe there is a limit to which members and leaders should use student, very young students in particular, to further their political ambitions.

Pauline Marois, the leader of the Parti québécois, comforted striking students and was elected Premier of Quebec on 4 September 2012. She then “promptly repealed the punitive sections of Bill 78” and also repealed the increase in tuition fees. (See: Bill 78, Wikipedia.)

However, in February 2013, her government held a Summit on Education. This summit had to take place so tuition fees could be increased. Discussions led to an increase of 3% per year. By the time the summit took place, in February 2013, the students had been led to expect a tuition-free education. They were disappointed, but as Madame Marois stated:

The responsibility of the government is to decide, and I decided.

See: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-education-summit-ends-without-consensus-1.1321678
See: http://freeeducationmontreal.org/quebec-summit-on-higher-education-2012-13/

Labour Unions

It surprised me to see Madame Marois use the students to be elected Premier of Quebec. As a university teacher and Chair of my department, I took a dim view of teachers who involved students when denied a renewal of their contract, tenure, or a promotion.

With respect to the 2012 strike, it may have been legitimate for political figures to involve students. The context was different. Yet seeking support from individuals who are very young and advocate civil disobedience is unsavoury.

However, what truly astonished me was the Labour Unions’ involvement.

“A deal reached between Quebec Liberal Party representatives and student representatives was rejected by striking students on 10 May. The deal had been supported by student unions and major Quebec labor unions including the Quebec Federation of Labour, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux and by the Centrale des syndicats du Québec.” (See: Bill 78, Wikipedia.)

Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Duplessis
Asbestos Strike
Asbestos Strike
Asbestos Strike
Asbestos Strike
Duplessis and Joseph Charbonneau
Duplessis and Joseph Charbonneau

The Asbestos strike, 1949

I should not have been so surprised. Before the Quiet Revolution or Révolution tranquille, when Maurice Duplessis was Premier of Quebec, there was a violent strike. It may seem distant, but in the 1960s, people remembered. Maurice Duplessis, the leader of l’Union nationale and the Premier of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959, was an opponent of trade unions:

“The strike which began on February 14, 1949 in Asbestos, Quebec, is one of those events that resonate beyond the immediate and define history. It was, as Pierre Trudeau later wrote, ‘a violent announcement that a new era had begun.’”[1]

The Asbestos strike of 1949 was repressed mercilessly and among sympathizers of the strikers was the Church and, especially, Montreal Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau (31 July 1892—19 November 1959).

“But even the conservative Church found itself in sympathy with the strikers and it raised most of the support for the destitute families. When the Archbishop of Montreal, Joseph Charbonneau, openly championed the strike, Duplessis had him exiled to Vancouver. In June Archbishop Roy stepped in to mediate the strike and an agreement was finally reached on July 1.”[2]

There is at least one other version of Monseigneur Charbonneau’s demise. According to this other version, Rome planned Monseigneur Charbonneau’s resignation. Be that as it may, Monseigneur Charbonneau resigned on 9 February 1950 and moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where he worked as hospital chaplain until his death in 1959.  “Archbishop Charbonneau has been seen as a precursor to the Quiet Revolution.”  (See: Joseph Charbonneau, Wikipedia.)

The asbestos strike brought a degree of prominence to other sympathizers: Jean Marchand, Gérard Pelletier, and a young Pierre Trudeau, who would be active in the 1960s. Pierre Trudeau would be Prime Minister of Canada from 1970 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984

La Révolution tranquille, the Quiet Revolution

Several elements characterize the Révolution tranquille, but I will mention four:

  • First, the province of Quebec was secularized. Quebec had been called the “priest-ridden” province.
  • Second, strong labour unions were formed.
  • Third, leaders all but promised a welfare state (l’État-providence).
  • Fourth, a terrorist group, the Quebec Liberation Front, was created within the separatist movement. It ceased to exist in 1970.

The first element, secularization, was entirely predictable, but the second, the emergence of powerful unions was less easily foreseeable. The third and fourth, the possible emergence of a welfare state and the growth of a strong separatist movement reflect the enthusiasm of Quebecers who were no longer led by the Church and Maurice Duplessis. Although they were and are “maîtres chez soi,” masters in one’s own home, for many Québécois, boundaries are a condition of nationhood.

Separatism could therefore be foreseen, but it militated against the development of a welfare state as it could be perceived and was perceived as unfriendly by other citizens of Canada. A large number of Quebecers left Quebec to settle in a province or country that was perceivably more ‘stable’ than the province of Quebec. The actions, not to say the mere existence, of a terrorist branch among separatists, its Front de Libération du Québec, was harmful to Quebecers. Moreover, these were the 1960s: the war in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara and marijuana. 

Pro-austerity       

On 24 March 2015, University of Sherbrooke students went on strike. A number of students obtained an injunction so they could finish their academic year undisturbed. Striking students defied the injunction and walked into the classrooms of students who had obtained an injunction. These students could have been cited for contempt of court which carries a penalty. They were not cited for contempt of court, but a few days later, students decided to end the strike.

http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/quebeccanada/politiqueprovinciale/archives/2015/04/20150411-094455.html

Québec contre la grève étudiante et pour l’austérité (Quebec against the student strike and for austerity), Université du Québec à Montréal (Photo credit: Canoe.ca)

Université du Québec à Montréal faculty members call for a dialogue.

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/201504/10/01-4859945-uqam-le-syndicat-des-professeurs-lance-un-appel-au-dialogue.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_meme_auteur_4819403_article_POS2

“What Charest wanted, Couillard is doing.”

It seems that “what Charest wanted, Couillard is doing.” Charest, the former leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, served as Premier during the student strike of 2012. He was defeated in the General Election of 4 September 2012.

http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/436399/charest-le-voulait-couillard-le-fait

Conclusion

Cutbacks always hurt. But in the case of Quebec, they hurt a great deal. Quebecers were promised a welfare state.

It would be my opinion that Quebecers have grown to believe they are entitled to a free education and other free services.

There is nothing wrong with entertaining such expectations, but a government cannot give the money it doesn’t have. Without a sufficient and varied number of taxpayers, a government is not in a position to offer free education. There were cutbacks in the new budget, but no increase in taxes. Quebecers now pay taxes to two governments, the federal government and the Quebec government.

I also suspect that Quebec’s reliance on the power of syndicates may have been  somewhat unrealistic. Workers need syndicates or professional associations. The Asbestos strike of 1949 is an example of the misery brought to workers who do not have a syndicate. Yet, if employees are to be provided with generous benefits, fewer working hours, lengthy leaves of absence (maternity leaves, etc.) and cushy pension plans, quantity re-enters the topic from every direction.

In other words, if the government of Quebec and the syndicates do not have a large purse, high wages and concomitant benefits cannot be extensive. Moreover, there may be fewer jobs. In Quebec universities, too many courses are taught by part-time  faculty members, the chargés de cours, some of whom have given themselves a syndicate. These part-time teachers often travel from university to university to earn a meagre living. Many leave Quebec.

I will end on a happy tone. Premier Couillard is going forward with the Plan Nord. Quebec is rich in natural resources. These must be further tapped, which happened in the 1960s. The Manicouagan réservoir is an immense source of electrical power. Premier Couillard has also announced a plan to stimulate small and medium-sized enterprises. (Sherbrooke visit; 29 March 2015.)

 RELATED ARTICLES

  • Quebec News (23 March 2013)
  • Quebec’s Summit on Education, a “turquerie” (5 March 2013)
  • Pauline Marois: The Scottish Agenda Concluded  (30 Jan 2013)
  • Madame Marois’ Scottish Agenda (28 Jan 2013)
  • More Thoughts on Quebec (25 Jan 2013)
  • Thoughts on Quebec (23 Jan 2013)
  • Shooter Aimed at Premier-elect Pauline Marois (19 Jan 2013)
  • Another Demonstration: a New Law … (18 May 2012)
  • Keeping up with Current Events in Quebec (17 May 2012)

Sources and Resources

  • État-providence, Labour and the Church in Quebec, Marianopolis College
    http://www.pcq.qc.ca/Dossiers/PCQ/Economie/EtatProvidence/EtatProvidence.pdf
  • “Maurice Duplessis”
    Dictionary of Canadian Biography
    http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/duplessis_maurice_le_noblet_18E.html
  • “The Asbestos Strike”
    The Canadian Encyclopedia http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/asbestos-strike-feature/#

My regards to all of you. The delay is due to illness.♥
____________________

[1] James H. Marsh, “Asbestos Strike,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/asbestos-strike-feature/#

[2] Ibid.

Pauline Julien sings “La Manic”

Dr Philippe Couillard
Dr Philippe Couillard

© Micheline Walker
12 April 2015
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The Marian Antiphonies

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Marian Hymnology, Music

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Ave Regina Caelorum, Giovanni Legrenzi, madrigals, Marian Antiphons, Mater Dolorosa, polyphony, Regina Cæli, sacred music

Dolci_Mater_dolorosa_1

Mater Dolorosa by Carlo Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

The Marian Antiphons

The Marian year has its seasons and each season has its antiphon. There are four antiphons, one for each Marian season. Antiphons, sometimes called antiphonies, are a call and response hymn. (See Posts on Marian Hymnology.)

Marian antiphonies are:

  • Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent through February 2)
  • Ave Regina Cælorum (Presentation of the Lord through Good Friday)
  • Regina Cæli (Easter season)
  • Salve Regina (from first Vespers of Trinity Sunday until None of the Saturday before Advent)

Last week, on Good Friday, the seasonal Marian antiphon became the Regina Cæli. It had been the Ave Regina Cælorum, which ends on Good Friday. Good Friday, or ‘holy’ Friday, is the day that commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Christ, in whose name Christianity was founded.

As you may know, the growth of polyphony, music combining several voices, is linked to Sacred Music mainly. During the Middle Ages, the Church was the main patron of composers. Most composers therefore became Kappelmeisters. It was their profession.

However, composers such as Italian Luca Marenzio (18 October 1553 or 1554 – 22, August 1599) wrote madrigals, secular music. Marenzio worked for Italian aristocratic families: the Gonzaga, the Este, and the Medici. Madrigals became the leading genre during the Renaissance and could be called the secular birthplace of polyphony. The largely courtly madrigal was rooted in the medieval song or chanson. Trouvères (northern France), troubadours[1] (southern France), and Minnesingers (German-speaking lands) wrote and sang chansons.

Piazza San Marco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Piazza San Marco, Venice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Renaissance

The Renaissance began with the collapse of the Byzantine Empire (Greek), or Eastern Roman Empire. Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks on 29 May 1453 and its Greek scholars fled to Italy. The Ottoman Empire’s Sultanate collapsed on 1 November 1922 and its Caliphate was abolished on 3 March 1924. (See The Last Crusades: the Ottoman Empire.) Constantinople became Istanbul in 1929 and is the largest city in Turkey. The arrival in Italy of Greek scholars escaping the Ottoman Turks would change western Europe profoundly. It ushered in a renaissance (rebirth).

San Marco, or St. Mark’s Basilica, reflects the influence of the Byzantine Empire, the empire that preceded the Ottoman Empire. (See Constantine the Great, Wikipedia.)[2] However, the Venetian School of music was founded by Adrian Willaert of the Franco-Flemish school. (See Venetian polychoral style, Wikipedia)

In 1527, Netherlandish composer Adrian Willaert (c. 1490 – 7 December 1562)travelled to Venice, where he had been appointed maestro di cappella at San Marco and taught music. At St. Mark’s Basilica, he had the best of facilities and remained its maestro di cappella until his death in 1552.

Music for Easter

Two years ago, I posted an article entitled Music for Easter (31 March 2013). That post featured the Regina Cæli, the Easter season’s antiphon. If you wish to listen to Michel Richard de Lalande‘s Regina Cæli, please click on Music for Easter. Music for Easter is a short post also featuring, as does this post, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi‘s (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736) “Quando corpus morietur.” Pergolesi died at the age of 26, but had already composed several mature works. I love Pergolesi. His “Quando corpus morietur” is inspired music.

Giovanni Legrenzi

Giovanni Legrenzi[3] (baptized 12 August 1626 – 27 May 1690) was a 17th-century Italian composer. By the 17th century, western Europe had entered its Baroque period (1600 – 1750) and composers had started to write operas. However, Legrenzi was first employed as organist at Santa Maria Maggiore, in Bergamo, Italy. In the mid 1650’s, he was maestro di cappella at the Academy of the Holy Spirit in Ferrara. Later, he settled in Venice where he lived comfortably and was named maestro di cappella at San Marco, Venice’s splendid Basilica. In other words, the Church had remained an important employer of musicians.

Both Giovanni Legrenzi and Michel Richard de Lalande were active at the height of the Ottoman Empire, the period when turquerie was fashionable, but it should be noted that polyphonic music is entirely a product of the Graeco-Roman civilization.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • The Last Crusades: the Ottoman Empire (12 February 2015)
  • The Codex Manesse (20 September 2014) (Minnesingers)
  • Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, revisited (5 December 2013)
  • Music for Easter (31 March 2013)
  • Posts on Marian Hymnology (7 January 2013)
  • A Portrait of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (20 December 2011)

Sources and Resources

  • The Byzantine Rite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Rite
  • Notre-Dame de Paris
    Ave Regina Cælorum (Presentation of the Lord through Good Friday)
  • Notre-Dame de Paris
    Regina Cæli (Easter Season)

Ave, Regína cælórum
Ave, Dómina Angelórum,
Sálve rádix, sálve, pórta,
Ex qua múndo lux est órta.
Gáude, Vírgo gloriósa,
Super ómnes speciósa ;
Vále, o valde decóra
Et pro nóbis Christum exóra.

Hail, Queen of the Heavens!
Hail, ruler of the angels!
Hail, root of Jesse! Hail, portal from whom light has shone to the world!
Hail, Virgin most glorious,
Beautiful above all!
Farewell, O most comely,
And pray to Christ for us.
(Courtesy of Notre-Dame de Paris)

47visnew

Madonna by Raphael (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post was published mistakenly a few minutes after I started writing it. The “publish” button is next to the “save draft” button. This morning, I realized that my image of San Marco was missing. I decided to insert it, but pressed on the “draft”  button instead of the “pending review” button. The post is now dated 5 April 2015.

Wishing all to you a Happy Easter.♥

____________________
[1] Troubadours sang in langue d’oc and trouvères in langue d’oïl.

[2] Constantine I was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity. He founded the Christian Church, as an institution, at the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE) and the Council of Nicaea and Constantinople, in 381 CE. The Nicene Creed dates back to these two councils.

[3] “Giovanni Legrenzi”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 04 avr.. 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335137/Giovanni-Legrenzi>.

Ave Regina Cælorum
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contralto)

Pergolesi’s Quando corpus morietur 

  • composer:  Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 –16 or 17 March 1736)
  • piece: “Quando corpus morietur,” Stabat Mater
  • performers: London Symphony Orchestra, 1985
  • Margaret Marshall, Soprano; Lucia Valentini Terrani, Contralto
  • conductor: Claudio Abbado

tumblr_mgsy17srBd1qipl8zo1_500© Micheline Walker
4 April 2015
(revised on 5 April 2015)
WordPress

Mater Dolorosa (detail, ca. 1485) attributed to Simon Marmion (Photo credit: rebloggy.com)

Micheline's Blog

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Jesuits & Jansenists

02 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in France, Religion

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Augustinus, Casuistry, Cornelius Jansen, Cum Occasionum, Jansenism, Jean Duvergier, Pascal, Port-Royal, Provincial Letters, Unigenitus

Les Lettres provinciales
Les Lettres provinciales
Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

In 1656-1657, Blaise Pascal (Louis de Montalte) wrote his eighteen Provincial Letters in defense of the Jansenists of the abbey of Port-Royal-des-Champs, located near Paris, and Port-Royal abbey in Paris. Jansenism had been brought to France by Jean Duvergier de Hauranne (1581 – 1643), afterwards the abbot of Saint-Cyran-en-Brenne. Duvergier had studied theology in Leuven /Louvain where he met and befriended Cornelius Jansen (28 October 1585 – 6 May 1638), the father of Jansenism. During his stay in Louvain, Duvergier and Jansen opposed the Jesuits to protect Belgian theologian Michael Baius or Michel de Bay (1513 – 16 September 1589) whom Jesuits suspected had been influenced by Calvinism.

The Jesuits or Society of Jesus was founded in 1540. Jesuits were therefore a new order that could have helped curb the spread of Protestantism. (See « La Querelle entre jansénistes et jésuites », Jésuites de la province de France. FR) Changes were needed, but not to the point of using moral irresponsibility to benefit Roman Catholicism. Extremes are extremes.  

In 1653, Pope Innocent X issued the bull Cum Occasionum condemning as heretical five propositions contained in Cornelius Jansen’s Augustinus. The Augustinus, a long work that is considered the Jansenists’ “book,” was published posthumously in 1640. It should be noted, however, that the Augustinus was the work of Cornelius Jansen and that it was published several years after he and Jean Duvergier de Hauranne were students in Leuven, Holland. In fact, by 1640, the two friends had long been separated. Cornelius Jansen had spent a few years in France after he and Jean Duvergier graduated with a degree in theology from the University of Leuven. Moreover, as noted above, the book was published two years after Cornelius Jansen’s death. Cornelius Jansen died in an epidemic.

It should also be noted that, after serving as abbot of Saint-Cyran-en-Brenne, Jean Duvergier, known as Saint-Cyran, had settled at the abbey of Port-Royal-des-champs, a Cistercian abbey. The Cistercian order was established in 1204 and its rule was more severe than the Rule of Benedict, precepts observed by Benedictine monks. In 1623, he had become the spiritual director of the nuns living and working at Port-Royal-des-champs, one of whom was the abbess Angélique Arnauld (8 September 1591 in Paris – 6 August 1661) who had also introduced certain reforms in her community. The Cistercians also owned the Port-Royal Abbey in Paris.

Port-Royal-des-Champs
Port-Royal-des-Champs
Engraving, Magdeleine Horthemels, c. 1710
Engraving, Magdeleine Horthemels, c. 1710
Petites Écoles
Petites Écoles
Port-Royal, Paris
Port-Royal, Paris

Les Petites Écoles de Port-Royal (1637 -1660)

Pascal as student and Educator

From 1637 until 1660, Cistercians operated a school at Port-Royal-des-Champs. Pascal had been a student at the Petites Écoles de Port-Royal, excellent schools because of the intellectual calibre of its teachers, messieurs, and its small classes. Jean Racine, the author of Phèdre (1778), had also studied at the Petites Écoles de Port-Royal. Later, Pascal himself would be an educator. He wrote a new method of teaching children to read.

As a former pupil of Port-Royal-des-Champs, Pascal, who sympathized with the Jansenists, defended the Port-Royal abbeys threatened by the bull Cum Occasionum. However, his motivation was, to a large extent, loyalty to his former teachers, the nuns of Port-Royal and to its messieurs or solitaires, teachers and men who retreated to one of the Port-Royal abbeys. More importantly, however, Pascal attacked the moral laxity of Jesuit casuistry.

However, in his Provincial Letters, Pascal did discuss the matter of grace, albeit briefly. According to the Jansenists, humans could not ensure their salvation. Jansenists believed in predestination. It had been and remains a Roman Catholic’s perception, that although humans are born stained with the original sin, baptism and grâce suffisante FR make it possible for them to be saved through good deeds, which is what I was taught. Jansenists differed. In order to be saved, humans had to be granted grâce efficace FR or efficacious grace and God chose those on whom he would bestow efficacious grace.

Saint Augustine and Pelagius

I suspect that initially St. Augustine, or Augustine or Hippo (13 November 354 – 28 August 430), believed humans could expiate the original sin, if granted grâce suffisante. French 17th-century Jansenists maintained, however, that grâce efficace or efficacious grace, was required to be saved. This was cause for despair as it negated free will.

The quarrel between Jansenists and Jesuits therefore echoed an earlier quarrel between St. Augustine and Pelagius (fl. c. 390 – 418). Pelagius had opposed predestination. In fact, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the Church Fathers, “early Church Fathers consistently [upheld] the freedom of human choice. They consistently upheld the freedom of human choice.” Initially, Augustine of Hippo may have  understood predestination as no more than foreknowledge. God as God knew how humans would live. This is what I was taught as a child. However, St. Augustine would grow to support predestination as a denial of free will, hence the title of Cornelius Jansen’s Augustinus, the Jansenists’ book.

Pascal’s Target: Casuistry

The Lettres provinciales did support the doctrines of Jansenism, but Pascal’s main target was the moral irresponsibility advocated by the Jesuits, or casuistry. Pascal also emphasized the Jesuit’s rejection of the teachings of the Church Fathers which, by extension, was a rejection of Roman Catholicism in its totality. This was not the intention of the Jesuits.

After speaking with a Jesuit, our naïve character, visits a neighbour who is known as an opponent of Jansenism, but who turns out to share the Jansenist’s view of grace and predestination.

“To ascertain the matter with certainty, I repaired to my neighbor, M. N-, doctor of Navarre, who, as you are aware, is one of the keenest opponents of the Jansenists, and, my curiosity having made me almost as keen as himself, I asked him if they would not formally decide at once that ‘grace is given to all men,’ and thus set the question at rest. But he gave me a sore rebuff and told me that that was not the point; that there were some of his party who held that grace was not given to all; that the examiners themselves had declared, in a full assembly of the Sorbonne, that that opinion was problematical; and that he himself held the same sentiment, which he confirmed by quoting to me what he called that celebrated passage of St. Augustine: ‘We know that grace is not given to all men.’” (Letter I/1)

—ooo—

In my post on Pascal’s Provincial Letters, I wrote that we would take a closer look at the methods used by Jesuit casuistry. We will. A few examples are needed, but what I would like to bring to the fore are:

  • the Jesuits’ rejection of the doctrines of the Church Fathers,
  • the fact that Jesuits tolerated duels and homicides, and
  • other precepts.
1024px-Fra_angelico_-_conversion_de_saint_augustin
Conversion of Saint Augustine Fra Angelico (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
640px-Sandro_Botticelli_050

Augustine of Hippo wrote that original sin is transmitted by concupiscence and enfeebles freedom of the will without destroying it. Sandro Botticelli (Caption and photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rejection of the Teachings of the Church Fathers

Provincial Letters pdf (complete text)
probabilism

“We leave the fathers [Church Fathers],” resumed the monk, “to those who deal with positive divinity. As for us, who are the directors of conscience, we read very little of them and quote only the modern casuists.” (p. 40) (Letter VI/6)

“For example, three popes have decided that monks who are bound by a particular vow to a Lenten life cannot be absolved from it even though they should become bishops. And yet Diana avers that notwithstanding this decision they are absolved. ‘And how does he reconcile that?’ said I. By the most subtle of all the modern methods, and by the nicest possible application of probability,” replied the monk. (p. 44) (Letter VI/6)

Here the monk being interviewed by a naïve character invokes “probability” and lists modern authorities. The new authorities and proponents of casuistry are Luis de Molina, Antonio Escobar y Mendoza, Gabriel Vasquez and Leonardus Lessius. Also linked to casuistry were Étienne Bauny of France and Antonino Diana, an Italian. Numerous “authorities” are also named as one reads the 18 letters. (See Casuistry, Wikipedia.)

However, if our narrator or candid character refers to an authority, he is trivialized and disapproves:

“When Diana [Antonino Diana] quotes with approbation the sentiments of Vasquez, when he finds them probable, and ‘very convenient for rich people,’ as he says in the same place, he is no slanderer, no falsifier, and we hear no complaints of misrepresenting his author; whereas, when I cite the same sentiments of Vasquez, though without holding him up as a phoenix, I am a slanderer, a fabricator, a corrupter of his maxims.” (p. 109) (Letter XII/12)

More on Probabilisme

‘A person may do what he considers allowable according to a probable opinion, though the contrary may be the safer one. The opinion of a single grave doctor is all that is requisite.’ (p. 39) (Letter VI/6)

“Can you doubt it?” he replied, ‘We have bound them, sir, to absolve their penitents who act according to probable opinions, under the pain of mortal sin, to secure their compliance ‘under the pain of mortal sin’”

‘When the penitent, says Father Bauny,’ follows a probable opinion, the confessor is bound to absolve him, though his opinion should differ from that of his penitent.’” (p. 40) (Letter VI/6)

Homicide

The justification of homicide is particularly surprising.

(naïve character, italics)

“Be this as it may, however, it seems that, according to Sanchez, a man may freely slay (I do not say treacherously, but only insidiously and behind his back) a calumniator, for example, who prosecutes us at law?” (p. 56) (Letter VII/7)

 “Certainly he may,” returned the monk, “always, however, in the way of giving a right direction to the intention: you constantly forget the main point. Molina supports the same doctrine; and what is more, our learned brother Reginald maintains that we may despatch the false witnesses whom he summons against us. And, to crown the whole, according to our great and famous fathers Tanner and Emanuel Sa, it is lawful to kill both the false witnesses and the judge himself, if he has had any collusion with them. Here are Tanner’s very words: ‘Sotus and Lessius think that it is not lawful to kill the false witnesses and the magistrate who conspire together to put an innocent person to death; but Emanuel Sa and other authors with good reason impugn that sentiment, at least so far as the conscience is concerned.’ And he goes on to show that it is quite lawful to kill both the witnesses and the judge.” (p. 56) (Letter VII/7)

“And, in point of fact, is it not certain that the man who has received a buffet on the ear is held to be under disgrace, until he has wiped off the insult with the blood of his enemy?” (p. 56) (Letter VII/7)

“Nay,” he continued, “it is allowable to prevent a buffet, by killing him that meant to give it, if there be no other way to escape the insult. This opinion is quite common with our fathers. (p. 56) (Letter VII/7)

“But, father, may not one be allowed to kill for something still less? Might not a person so direct his intention as lawfully to kill another for telling a lie, for example?” (p. 58) (Letter VII/7)

“He may,” returned the monk; “and according to Father Baldelle, quoted by Escobar, ‘you may lawfully take the life of another for saying, “You have told a lie”; if there is no other way of shutting his mouth.’ The same thing may be done in the case of slanders. (p. 58) (Letter VII/7) 

Stealing

(naïve character, italics)

“Lessius, among others, maintains that ‘it is lawful to steal, not only in a case of extreme necessity, but even where the necessity is grave, though not extreme.’”  (Letter VIII/8)

“For after all, now, is it not a violation of the law of charity, and of our duty to our neighbour, to deprive a man of his property in order to turn it to our own advantage? Such, at least, is the way I have been taught to think hitherto.” (Letter VIII/8)

“That will not always hold true,” replied the monk; “for our great Molina has taught us that ‘the rule of charity does not bind us to deprive ourselves of a profit, in order thereby to save our neighbour from a corresponding loss.’” (Letter VIII/8)

Homicide, again

In his letter XIII, Pascal repeats much of what he wrote in Letter VII/7. He fully realizes that he is repeating. As an educator, he emphasized the need to repeat, a need that is consistent with the modern theory of information. It is part of his “art de persuader,” the art of persuasion. One has to read Pascal’s Pensées, published posthumously, to grasp Pascal’s art de persuader.

Conclusion

There is so much to discuss, but a post is a post. However the book, Les Provinciales, is easy to read and short. The fate of Jansénisme resembles the fate of the Huguenots in France. Jansénisme was not a religion; it was a mere movement. But it was condemned by the papal bull Unigenitus, issued by Clement XI on 8 September 1713. Absolutism meant: one king, one language and one religion.

Pascal discusses numerous subjects, such as duels and usury, in his examination of the moral laxity of 17th-century French Jesuits.

In closing, I would like to point out that the quarrel between Jansenists and Jesuits in 17th-century France is one episode, just one, in the history of the Jesuits and that both Jesuit casuistry and Jansenism were condemned.

My best regards to all of you. ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Pascal’s Provincial Letters (27 March 2015)
  • Jansenism, a Church Divided (24 March 2015)
  • Pascal & Leibniz: Details (19 March 2015)
  • Pascal’s “Roseau pensant” (19 April 2014)
  • Phèdre’s “Hidden God” (8 October 2012) (Jansenism)
  • Casuistry, or how to sin without sinning (5 March 2012)
  • Pascal & the Two Infinites (27 September 2011) (relativity)
  • Pascal on the Human Condition (25 August 2011) (the US)

 Sources and Resources

  • Provincial Letters pdf
  • Lettres provinciales ebooksgratuits.com FR
  • Lettres provinciales (Gallica, BnF) (National Library of France) FR
  • Pascal’s Pensées are Gutenberg [EBook #18269]
  • Port-Royal (Petites Écoles) FR
  • Divine grace
  • grâce suffisante FR
  • grâce efficace FR
  • original sin
  • casuistry
  • Jansenism
  • predestination

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, sings “Ombra mai fu” (Serse) G. F. Händel

imagesE7I9M79Y© Micheline Walker
2 April 2015
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Pascal, Jean Domat
French sanguine

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