Wax figures from Museum in
Sainte Anne de Beaupre (no longer on display).
Louis Guimont is at the far right.
Louis GUIMONT was born in 1625 in Champs, Tourouvre, Mortagne, Sees
Perche(Orne) France. He immigrated in 1647. On February 17, 1647, Louis ad Jean Malenfant
were hired to go to New France. The recruiter was Nicolas Juchereau, representing brother
Jean, Sieur de Maur, who carried the title "general clerk of the storehouse of New
France."
Two ships were awaiting them at the wharf in the port; one was either LeBon or
Le St-Francois Xavier, 90 tonners out of Dieppe, the other La Marguerite of 70 tons
outfitted b Juchereau. The departure took place shortly after June 6, 1647. According to
information provided by the Journal des Jesuites, they arrived on Aug 6 after having
sailed to windward on the Atlantic and the St. Lawrence River for about 60 days. NOTE-On
17 February 1647 Louis and Jean Malenfant were hired to go to New France.
He died on Jun 18 1661 in St. Anne de Beaupre, Montmorency Co.
Quebec Canada. Guimond, Louis & Jeanne Bitouset---Married---Year: 1653---Place:Quebec
Source: Dictionary Généalogique Families Canadiennes
Author: Tanguay, ADS---Publisher: Senecal---1887, p424.
GUIMOND NAME---The name Guimond originates from Guy-Des-Monts, for a chap who cultivated
"guy" (a kind of flower from which perfume is made) in the mountains. Guy Des
Monts (Guy of the Mountains). Until recently, the Catholic Church registered births for
the civil authority since they baptized most new born. Since in days long gone people did
not often know how to write and the priests themselves may have not been up to today's
literacy standards, names were given orally and written phonetically. So Guy Des Monts,
pronounced in French, might have sounded like Guymont. Eventually the "y" was
changed to "i" and the name became Guimont; then someone apparently thought the
"t" sounded like a "d", and it became Guimond. Other variations
include, but are limited to, Guimon, De Moe, and Jimmo. Reference is made to a book (by a
Father Gaetan Guimond, on deposit with the National Library of Canada) which deals with
the life of Louis Guimont. Excerpts from the above book, written below, describe the
miracle and his torture by the Iroquois in great detail. (Source: contained in a
manuscript of June 1661 preserved in the Archives of the Seminary of Quebec. Contains an
eye witness's statement of the killing of Louis)
LOUIS GUIMOND---(1625-1661)---Subject of miracle in 1658 Martyred in 1661: by Father
Gaetan Guimond There is only one sadness, that of not being saints". (Leon Bloy)
"Do you know Louis Guimont, captured this summer? he was battered with sticks and
iron bars; they hit him so many times that he died from it; however, he never stopped
praying God" (Letter from a companion in misery).
A FEW HISTORICAL NOTES--- Was Louis Guimont really the first one to come from our great
family to New France? Certain documents we consulted would have led us to believe that he
had been baptized at Quebec in 1625. Such an affirmation faced us with a somewhat
embarrassing situation: Either Louis Guimont was not the first of our Guimont ancestors on
this continent, or he came here before being baptized. In the second alternative, we would
have to conclude that he was baptized as an adult, or what is worse, resign ourselves to
believe that his parents Francois Guimond and Jeanne Delaunay let their baby, Louis, make
the long and perilous journey which separated the Parish of Deschamps, in the Perche, and
the New Continent alone (without parents)? How to get through all these conjectures and
hypotheses? The truth is that Louis Guimont was not baptized at Quebec, he was born and
baptized at Deschamps in the Perche (France). In fact, Mr. Pierre-Georges Roy, in his book
entitled "The city of Quebec under the French regime" re-produces the acts prior
to 1631 and does not mention the name of Louis Guimont in the list of baptisms. Also,
Abbot L.-B.-A. Ferland in his "Notes on the Registers of Notre-Dame-of-Quebec"
tells us explicitly that "Since October 24, 1621 date of the beginning of
registrations at Quebec until 1629, there were in the French colony, only six baptisms
among the Europeans: Eustache Martin, Marguerite Martin, Marguerite Couillard, Helene
Martin and Louis Couillard". Since our ancestor, was not born and baptized at Quebec,
we are confident by this fact in our belief that he is the first Guimont to come to the
American soil. Unfortunately, we cannot pinpoint precisely neither the date of his
arrival, nor the motive of his coming.
However, a chapter of the book of Cannon Lionel Groulx "The history of French
Canada" permits us
to set approximately the circumstances and the motives of the emigration of Louis Guimont:
" From 1608 to l660 there came some 1200 immigrants. What callings pushed these men,
often entire families towards the departing sailing ships? The spirit of adventure, at the
time very widespread, the awful misery in some provinces, in Normandy for example, the
perspective of land to be owned (land untilled since the beginning of time, said the
Relations of Jesuits). This last bait, exploited by the propagandists, must have been a
mightily seductive to the agricultural proletariat."
Whatever the case, our ancestor probably did not come to this country before 1640, since
he was only 15 years old at that time, and certainly not after 1652, since we find him at
Quebec the following winter. In fact, on February 11, 1653, in the chapel of St-Jean at
the Coast of Ste-Genevieve (Quebec), Louis Guimont married Jeanne Bitouset, daughter of
Antoine and Nicole Dupont of St-Etienne du Mont de Paris. Other sources indicate that
Louis worked as a domestic in the home of the tax collector, Mathurin Mauduit, whose
estate carried the name of Mulotiere, which still existed in 1958, a few miles from
Tourouvre.
On February 18, 1647, his services were retained, with a contract, by Jean Juchereau.
Juchereau had gone to New France with his wife and children in about 1634, and eventually
procured a wealthy estate. Thus, Louis' employer was well established in Canada. Some
terms of the contract were: To serve in capacity as laborer for 6 years in New France. The
contractor was responsible to nourish him during that period, transport and return him to
place of embarkation. The sum of 40 livres Tournois (40 pounds of Tours currency) for each
year and a pair of shoes and a wool suit (for the whole term).
From his marriage to Jeanne Bitouset, four children were born:
---Jacques, baptized September 26, 1653 and who was buried on October 2, of the same year,
---Joseph, baptized October 19, 1654, married April 17, 1684 to Anne Pare, in the Parish
of Sainte-Anne du Petit-Cap, where he was buried on May 26, 1731,
---Louise, baptized on August 26, 1658 and married in 1674 to Eustache Baton.
---Claude, baptized in 1660, married first to Anne LeRoy on October 8, 1685, then to
Dorothee Fournier on February 10, 1721. He was buried at Cap St-Ignace on February 14,
1783.
Apart from these dates relating to the births of his four children, history makes no other
mention of Louis Guimont until 1657. That is the year, in fact, when he took residence on
the Coast of Beaupre, about 20 miles below Quebec City, on the north shore of the Saint
Lawrence River. He purchased (or received a grant ) on October 1, 1657, a lot of some
fifty-odd perches (ancient measurement of land which was of 34.18 square meters, according
to Larousse) which belonged to Claude Bouchard; the signing of the deed for the land and
the house was signed in the presence of the Notary Vachon.
The present owners of this land situated north-east of the present-day Basilica, across
from the new cemetery are Geral Tremblay, Adelard Tremblay and Joseph-Lelard
Tremblay and Joseph-Leon Cote. This land at , of which Louis Guimont became the
owner in 1657 was certainly not entirely wooded. We may suppose that the clearing was
however fairly advanced since the deed of sale mentions also "the house". It is
however permitted to believe that his work, as that of his neighbors must have been the
rough and hard labor of the pioneers. Canadian history has taught us in which conditions
the first colonizers were obliged to work. In addition to the difficulties of the climate,
isolation and adaptation inherent in lands newly discovered by civilization, there was the
perpetual fear of attack from the Iroquois. All this would have certainly sufficed to
discourage ordinary men, but these brave souls, these generous hearts, these dauntless men
walked without thought of the obstacles, the injuries, the suffering and the death.
In opposition to was sometimes happens to certain heroes which legend contributes to
creating more that history, we have not need of imagination to make our ancestors larger
than they were to have us admire them. It is thus solely with the aid of these old
documents left to us by the Jesuits of the beginning of the colony, the Archives of
Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre and of the Seminar de Quebec, the relations, forcibly incomplete, of
the judicial Archives of Quebec and of a few ancient manuscripts that we will apply
ourselves to describe the series of important events in the life of Louis Guimont.
II - THE MIRACLE---The first notable event in the life of our ancestor at which the Feast
of this day has as an objective to commemorate, is without a doubt, the miracle of which
he was the object and the beneficiary in 1658. Our study will be limited to the
consideration of the circumstances that surrounded this first miracle of Saint Anne on
Canadian land and of the critique of the circumstances in the documents we have in hand.
Chapelle Des Matelots (Sailor's Chapel) Going back 300 years in history shows us
Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre, then called Petit-Cap, in a very different background than the
pilgrim can admire today. Instead of the magnificent little city, it was an alignment of
houses distant from one another, sitting on the side of the mountain, and looking out at
the passing river; instead of the magnificent Basilica which celebrates Saint Anne and is
the envy of all Canadians, was on that spot, a poor chapel of wooden beams, bearing the
name Chapelle Des Matelots. Its construction, started in March 1658, was advanced enough
two years later for Monsignor de Laval to speak of it in his report to the Holy See,
noting even that this chapel served as parish church for the people of the area. It owed
its name to the devotion of old Bretonny and Normandy sailors who having been miraculously
saved from drowning by the intercession of the Saint, vowed to erect on this spot, a
chapel that would be dedicated to her.
Certain modern critics tried in vain to discredit this marvellous fact and the solid and
rational argumentation brought forward by the Reverend Father Georges Belanger, in his
book entitled "Good Saint Anne in Canada and at Beaupre" suffice to convince us
that the Chapelle Des Matelots is an historical fact. The beginning of its construction
thus go back to the month of March in 1658. In fact, Etienne Lessart, navigator by trade
and established in this area for seven years, "desirous to contribute in some way to
the glory of God and in His service", signed, on March 8, the act of donation of a
lot of two acres of waterfront deep by a league and one half in depth. It was expressly
mentioned that a church or chapel must be built on this land, on the spot which was judged
to be the most appropriate according to the Grand Vicar. Five days later, on March 13, Mr
Vignal, Vicar of the Ursulines of Quebec "blessed the area of the church of Petit-Cap
and Mr. D'Ailleboust (then Governor), put in place the first stone" As soon as these
ritual and official gestures were made, the residents started working and started to bring
the stones for the foundation.
The precise spot where this first chapel was located was traced according to the documents
and to the archeological searches. In fact, the digs even permitted to find a part of the
foundation. The Society of Historical Monuments has erected a commemorative plaque on this
spot, near the highway, in front of the present Basilica.
The question that is now before us is this: Is the site of the Chapelle Des Matelots the
area where the first miracle occurs? Was Louis Guimont really healed on this spot? The
preoccupation with the precision of fact and respect that we have for history force us to
not affirm this categorically. Despite that the study of the documents and the eloquent
voice of tradition give us every reason to believe it is so. The account left to us by
Francois Le Mercier in his "Relations Des Jesuits" affirms that the miracle took
place while "they started to build" the Church of Saint Anne. Since there is no
mention of the date and that, on the other hand, "the Church of Saint Anne" does
not explicitly say it was the "Chapelle Des Matelots", it was necessary, in all
sincerity, to ask ourselves if it was not rather the church begun in 1661. Two documents
come to reinforce the argument of tradition and incite us to choose 1658 instead of 1661.
First, according to the account of Francois Le Mercier, the first miracle occurred in the
presence of Elie Godin, the husband of Marie-Esther Ramage. It happens that the name of
Elie Godin does not appear on the list of the workers, on the book of accounts for the
construction of 1661. Moreover, Reverend Father Belanger, cited above, in speaking of the
construction of the Chapelle Des Matelots, tells us: "The workers had hardly started
the construction that the miracle flowed as from a source" and he told the story of
the healing of Louis Guimont. If this event were to have happened three years later, one
would also have to concede that this image of a "source" would have lost all its
color.
Despite the fact that it is impossible for us to be absolutely certain as to the spot
where our ancestor was healed, we may be relatively certain, after the interpretation of
the documents and the concordance of all the witnesses, that the event is situated in 1658
on the emplacement of the first chapel. As ti is clearly mentioned that the healing
occurred suddenly at the moment the subject was depositing "three little stones in
the foundation", the similarity of the two facts incites us not to look for the place
of healing elsewhere than the very site of the construction. As far as the day the
miraculous event occurred, let us refer to two texts: First it was stipulated in the deed
of donation of the land signed before Mr. Audouart , March 8, 1658 that "said gift
was done on the condition that in the (present year), MDC, fifty-eight (1658),
construction would begin and continue on the building of a church or chapel by the
townspeople" Thus, it was clear that the starting of the work could not be delayed.
On the other hand, the link that the Archives of Saint Anne reveal about the event tell us
the following: "When this construction begins". If we stop to consider, finally,
that the workers were still at the first step of the construction, that is the foundation,
we must thus conclude that Louis Guimont had his miracle shortly after March 13, date of
the blessing of the land and of the installing of the first stone.
The name of the first person to benefit of a miracle. Since it is always our concern to
research the precision and exactness of the facts, we had to ask ourselves another
question. Was it truly our ancestor, Louis Guimond who was the first case of a miracle in
Beaupre? Could there not have been confusion as to the names or a substitution of names?
This is always possible, especially when we must back up three centuries. As far as
tradition is concerned, it leaves no doubt and all of the witnesses have been indubitably
in favor of Louis Guimont. Is it the same case for the documents, which are even more
tangible proof?
In the Archives of the Seminar de Quebec, there are two old manuscripts dating from 1680
and authenticated by Monsignor de Laval himself. Speaking of the first miracle of
Sainte-Anne, they indeed make mention of Louis Guimont. The text is absolutely the same in
both manuscripts and the writing is perfectly readable. It goes without saying that
neither of these writings can be considered as the original account of the first miracle.
They have, in fact, been transcribed from the account of Abbot Morel, curate of
Sainte-Anne in 1668. It is undeniable, however, that their age as well as the signature
and the seal of the first bishop of Quebec give them a unarguable value. And if we
consider, moreover, the preceding accounts, notably the "Relations Des Jesuits",
"The History of the French Colony in Canada", "Good Saint Anne in Canada
and at Beaupre", they have always mentioned the name of our ancestor Louis Guimont,
our belief is fairly solidly anchored and we have no reason to doubt that there could have
been an error as to the identity of the first person to benefit from a miracle.
The Nature of the Miracle
To help us to draw a few conclusions on the nature of the handicap that afflicted our
ancestor and of which he was cured in 1658, it is important, we believe, to reproduce in
their original version, the text of "Relations Des Jesuits" and that contained
in the manuscripts of which we have spoken above: "Louis Guymond, of this same
Parish, was suddenly healed of a great back pain, while putting, by duty, three stones
into the foundation of the Church of Saint Anne which had started to be built."
"When we started this construction an inhabitant of the Cote de Beaupre, named Louis
Guimont, afflicted by back pain, put in a movement of devotion three stones into the
foundation and suddenly found himself healed. This healing became the occasion of another
one even more stunning".
These two texts use the same terms: "back pains" we would really have to distort
the meaning to say that our ancestor was paralyzed in some way. Despite the fact that the
panel of the altar of the present Basilica of Sainte-Anne shows Louis Guimont leaning with
difficulty on crutches , also despite certain account presenting him as a "painful
invalid", according to the documents themselves, he was probably not invalid nor
paralytic. Moreover, it is clearly stated in the text cited above that this healing was
the "occasion of another one even more stunning"; and we read further that the
healing of Marie-Esther Ramage, wife of Elie Godin. Thus it appears that this favor
obtained by Louis Guimont was not among the most spectacular occurrences obtained through
the Great Miracle Maker on her privileged site of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre. However, since
it is not a question of considering the importance of the miracle but rather it's
existence, we would be remiss to insist on the nature of this favor. On the contrary, let
us seek to develop in our hearts sentiments of profound thanks and gratitude towards Good
Saint Anne since she chose our first ancestor and to make him, in a way, the cornerstone
of the growing movement of prayer which has been directed to her for the past 300 years.
Our faith and our charity, to be worthy of the heroic virtues of our glorious ancestor,
must be vigil enough to have us love and thank Saint Anne without having in hand "all
the details to satisfy our curiosity." If Divine Providence permitted certain
documents to remain incomplete and that others were not available to us, let us however be
profoundly thankful towards her, since she wanted to leave us absolutely convincing proof
of the historical aspects of the event and as regards the circumstances of place and time
in which it occurred. While out there in the country of our ancestry, under the majestic
background of the Pyrenees, numerous pilgrims come for the Centenary of Lourdes hail and
venerate the little seer of Massabielle because the Mother of God has deemed to "look
down on the lowliness of her servant" and to choose her to be at the origin of her
famous Sanctuary, we, the descendants of Louis Guimont, say to Good Saint Anne our
gratitude and our thanks for her to have chosen our ancestor and placed him at the origin
of her most celebrated place of pilgrimage in America.
III - THE MARTYR---The second important event in the life of Louis Guimont is his glorious
martyrdom suffered at the hands of the most terrible among the Iroquois tribes, the
Agniers in 1661. Captured June 18 with a few companions, he was dragged into captivity and
died a few days later, after having endured the most horrible tortures "with a
heroism worthy of the first Christians".
CAPTURE AND CAPTIVITY
In a precious manuscript of June 1661 preserved in the Archives of the Seminary of Quebec,
here is what is related:"On the 18th, at 8 in the morning, the massacre or capture
started of several people at Beaupre and the Isle of Orleans by the Iroquois who came down
from Tadoussac after the coup they did there; they spoke that day of 8 o'clock at Beaupre
and 7 o'clock at Isle of Orleans, which turned out to be true".
Let us leave the word now to Rev. Father Georges Belanger who gives us a vivid account of
this event and shows the terrible tortures that the Iroquois made their prisoners endure:
"The summer of 1661 started in fear and ended in tears and blood. A war cry, the yell
of the Iroquois, woke the echoes of Beaupre and spread panic. It was June 18, at 8 in the
morning. After having kidnaped or massacred seven persons on the Isle of Orleans, these
sworn enemies of the French threw themselves like a herd of wild animals on the coast of
Beaupre, where they surprised the defenseless farmers. Among them was Louis Guimont, the
same man who was miraculously healed at the foundation of the "Chapel of the
Sailors"
It is impossible to describe the cruelties that these barbarians practice on their
prisoners. The Iroquois started by undressing their victim, then they hit him with sticks
and bludgeons until the body is no more that a bleeding sore; the prisoner is then tied up
and thrown in the bottom of a canoe where the guards amuse themselves by pushing quills
and spines into the cuts. When they travel by land, they use their prisoners as pack
animals and force them to carry the heaviest loads. To stop any attempt at escape, at
night, they are laid on their back, hands and feet tied to four stakes in the ground. Oh!
the horrible nights of these unfortunates! Impossible to make a move to relax sore limbs,
impossible to protect themselves from the clouds of insects that come to feast on the
bleeding sores. This night suffering must have been repeated fourteen or fifteen times for
our unfortunate Guimont.
When the lugubrious convoy meets other warriors of the same tribe, the latter have the
right to do a prelude to war by doubling their cruelties upon the prisoners. The gauntlet
starts, to open all the sores. The fingernails are pulled off, they are burned, cut, their
fingers are twisted until all are disjointed. Others pull strips of flesh off their
victims and eat them on the spot. It is difficult to hold back our tears as we read what
was written by a companion in suffering of Louis Guimont."
"I have almost no more fingers, so don't be surprised at my bad writing. I have
suffered much since my capture; but I prayed also. We are three Frenchmen here who have
been tortured together, and we had agreed that while one of us was being tortured, the two
others would pray God for him, which we always do. We also agreed that while the two were
praying, the one being tormented would sing the litanies of the Virgin Mary, or the Ave
Maris Stella or the Pange Lingua, which we did also. It is true that the Iroquois just
laughed at us, which did not keep us from doing it. They made us dance around a big fire
to make us fall into it. They were more than forty of them all around the fire, and they
pushed us to each other with great kicks, like a ball in a game of palm, and when we were
well burned, they put us out in the rain and the cold. I have never felt such great pain
and nevertheless, it only made them laugh". Those were the ordinary routine tortures.
Others more refined ones awaited the prisoners in the camp of the winners.
Here is how the ceremonial went: At a certain distance from their village, the chief of
the warriors gives an agreed signal and all the population comes as to a feast. Cruelty
arms the men, women and children with clubs, steel bars, thorny branches. To better
organize the tortures, the chiefs align the tormentors, the chiefs arrange them in a
double line. One of the elders exhorts them to "receive the prisoners well";
these wait in silence until the end of these gloomy preparations; on the signal of a
chief, they walk in turn between the double hedge of tormentors; the blows rain hard on
their bodies already covered with cuts"
THE CROWN of MARTYRDOM---According to Father Belanger, this captivity, with all its
horrors and torments would have lasted a fortnight. We cannot say with exactness. One
thing however is certain, the death of Louise Guimont occurred prior to July 14 since on
that day, according to the Judicial Archives of Quebec, "there was inventory taken of
the furniture of the late Louis Guimont and Jeanne Bitouset". To follow the moving
account of the captivity of our ancestor, let us listen now to an eye-witness who tells us
of his death: "Do you know Louis Guimond, captured this summer? He was hit with clubs
and iron bars; he received so many that he died from it: however, he kept praying God,
which enraged the Iroquois to see his lips moving as he prayed that they cut off his lips,
upper and lower. How horrible that was to see! and still, he did not quit praying; which
so upset the Iroquois that they pulled his heart from his living chest and threw it into
his face". These few phrases, written by a witness who had to endure the same
tortures and lived the same hours of distress as Louis Guimont are of a singular
eloquence. Given a witness with such a story to tell, can there be any criticism? The
witnessing of blood is one that cannot lie. And any commentary that one could make only
risk sounding false or diminish its value.
AN INCOMPARABLE TITLE OF NOBILITY---The notary J. Edward Roy of Levis tells us in the
history of the Lavoie family, of a very interesting episode. In 1785, at Cap St. Ignace
where the roots of the Guimont are very solidly implanted since the coming of Claude, the
last son of Louis, there was the marriage of Marie-Marcelline Guimont, granddaughter of
Claude, and of Michel Morel de la Durantaye. The Morel de la Durantaye family was of noble
descendance and had privileges that the law granted in those times to the nobles; among
these privileges was one reserved for women: that of wearing a special coiffure, called a
"fontange". Because of his union to a descendant of nobility, Marie-Marcelline
thus had the privilege of wearing the "fontange" the morning of her wedding. And
notary Roy adds:"without being of origins as distinguished as the Morel de la
Durantaye, the Guimont belonged to the good bourgeois families of the South Coast".
To bolster this assertion, Mister Roy then speaks of the title of Captain in the Militia
that was held by her Grandfather Claude, recounts the miracle that her great-grandfather
was the object of in 1658 and tells of his martyrdom in 1661. Here is how he concludes
this anecdote: "Such a death, suffered with a heroism worthy of the first Christians,
is as worthy as letters of nobility of the Morel de la Durantaye".
Sources for expanded information on Louis Guimont and the period are:
Les Archives de Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre
Les Archives du Seminar de Quebec
Les Archives judiciaries de Quebec
Les RELATIONS Des JESUITS-Ed Augustin Cote, Quebec, 1858
Le JOURNAL DES JESUITS, (abbes Laverdiere et Casgrain)-Ed. Chez Valois, Montreal, 1892
La BONNE SAINTE ANNE AU CANADA ET A Beaupre-(Mgr C. Tanguay, prte)
Eusebe Senecal & Fils, Imprimeurs-Editors, Montreal, 1887
ORIGIN DES FA MILLES CANADIENNES-FRANCAISES (N.-E. Dionne)
Laflamme & Proulx, Imprimeurs, Quebec, 1914
MONOGRAPH DE SAINT-IGNACE DU CAP-ST-IGNACE (abbe N.-J. Sirois)
|