Les congregations religieuses: De la France au Quebec, 1880-1914 (review)

Following upon volume 1 (1996) and volume 2 (1999), this is the third volume of a detailed historical description and analysis of the coming from France to the Province of Québec of hundreds of sisters, brothers, and priests who were members of several dozen Catholic religious congregations. This migration, which occurred during the decades preceding World War I, was caused by a series of laws adopted by French republican governments during the years following 1880, laws that restricted or banned the existence, and especially the founding and running of schools, by Catholic religious orders and congregations. Laperrière's overall purpose is to study the impact of these French clerical immigrants on Québec Catholicism and Québec society.

As was the case in his first two volumes, Laperrière's book is as thorough as possible, examining in turn, based upon secondary and primary sources, the vast majority of French religious congregations that came to Québec during the years in question. He explains the origins of each congregation in the French social context of its time, and shows why so many were driven to emigrate to Canada by the hostility of successive French governments. He also provides much historical context on the Québec society that was welcoming the French immigrant clergy. In sum, this is a most thorough study of the question of immigrant French clergy to Québec in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

As was the case for the first two volumes, the book is very, perhaps excessively, detailed and repetitive. While the outline is always clear, the extensive and largely chronological treatment of the subject seems to compel the author to wander far afield from his immediate topic, and to repeat things that are covered elsewhere. Laperrière provides much anecdotal evidence for his findings that illustrate the attitudes and feelings of the clergy on issues that include church-state relations, ecclesiology, clashing nationalisms, ethnic rivalries, gender issues, and any other issue that emerges in the documentation studied by Laperrière. Citations are plentiful, the author being of the view that it is best to let his sources speak for themselves. Accuracy is also one of the author's trademarks, as is correct French writing; typos are just about non-existent in this extensively documented book.

Laperrière shows sound critical spirit throughout the book, a spirit set in real empathy for his subject. While not sufficiently succinct, his study is a balanced treatment of a complex topic that stands at the crossroads of several social, ecclesiastical, political, and cultural crosscurrents such as clashing nationalisms, ideologies, and ecclesiologies.