Happy New Year 2016

80,800 PAGEVIEWS TO START THIS NEW YEAR

I figure we pulled in 27,500 PAGEVIEWS in the year 2015.
Sometime this year we may make the 100,000 mark. Wouldn't that be loverly.

Major readers this past month of December were : United States, Canada, Russia and Germany.
Following them were : Ukraine, France, United Kingdom, Poland, Finland and Australia.

Thank You.

People checking the de la Ronde history and the Death Records Posts were the major users in December.

Some of the Fishing Shows that taped some events at our Nipigon Historical Museum this past summer as we celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Catching the World Record Brook Trout in 1915 have aired on TV.

Travis Lowe's "Finding Fontinalis" has a trailer out but the documentary wont show until next fall.

The cable-stayed Nipigon River Bridge has its first two lanes open while they dismantle the old bridge and set the next two lanes in place..

Less than a foot of snow on the ground and the temperature has not dropped below zero degrees F.
(-18 C).
One robin was seen during our Christmas Bird Count.

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j. The Final Part (of six)

A L K Switzer, March 4, 1964

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j.  The Final Part

Some Observations by Those Who Knew Him

It is an interesting side-light that one of the motives that attracted him to the Jesuit Order was that he loved company and felt that in an Order he would have more companionship than as a secular priest – and then he spent the greater part of his life in as lonely a situation as one could possibly imagine.

The local people who knew him well, Roman Catholic, or Protestant, French , Indian or English, without exception testify to the fine character of this man.  He was patient, dedicated, loveable, and strong both physically and spiritually.

Father Rolland stated in a recent article that Father Couture loved God more than nationality.  This is confirmed by all who knew him, that he didn’t debase the Church by using it as a vehicle for other ends than preaching of the Gospel.  As Father Rolland said, to the English he was English,  to the Ojibway he was an Ojibway, and to the French, French.  When he was travelling or visiting  with Indian families whose food dishes were different to those of the white man he insisted on eating whatever they had for themselves whether it was rabbit stew, bannock, boiled fish, dumplings and salt pork, beaver tail, moose nose – he wanted to be as they were.

He was fond of hunting and fishing, and particularly enjoyed an evening of good fellowship with his friends over a game of “500” with good natured conversation.

Although in Longlac he got many of his meals with the family of Nicol Finlayson and later that of Emil Finlayson, he himself was an excellent cook, and would entertain his friends periodically with a delicious bean feed made by bringing the presoaked beans to a boil for just a few minutes and then carefully placing the full pot with a tight cover in a well insulated box where the beans cooked slowly for 8 or 9 hours.

He was a good singer and made records of hymns, masses, etc. and distributed these to the Indians so they could be aided in their devotions during his absence.

On a hunting or fishing trip he was always one of the gang and could be counted on to do his full share of all the chores.  Those who were privileged to accompany him on these trips eagerly looked forward to the occasion.

He regularly conducted prayers when out on such a trip but nevertheless was able to divorce teaching and devotion from pleasure so that neither suffered.

He had a happy manner with everyone, he didn’t order people to do things but would suggest.  For instance if someone had borrowed a tool or bit of equipment without his knowledge, he would quietly say “I think there is something missing here, I wonder what could have happened to it?” and it would reappear.

He had a fine team of MacKenzie River Huskies, about 125 pounds each – of which he was very proud.  Their names were: Prince (lead), Tiger, Higger and Wolf – wheel dog next to the toboggan.

Once Father Couture spoke to a Protestant parent in Longlac and said “ Are you aware that your children are sitting in on my catechism classes?”  The parent said “ No, but if you can put up with them it is all right by me.”

His cabin was crudely constructed with one room – later a lean-to shed was added – and was cold and drafty.  Mice were plentiful and Father Couture who kept a “22” rifle behind his chair just for this purpose would reach for it when he saw a mouse and shoot it.  Once when he saw two eyes peering in a crack from the shed and heard a meowing, he reached for the rifle and fired, then went to see the results. He had shot a cat and behind it were two aluminium plates which were never quite the same thereafter.

The cabin was such that even when there was a good fire burning , if there was a wind blowing you had to stay down wind of the stove to remain comfortable.  Frozen meat would remain frozen in the winter time if left next to the wall.

Here is a remark from one of his Indian parishioners.  “Father Couture was one of the priests that worked and gave his whole heart and life for the Indians.  He worked hard to teach them catechism, prayers and singing, both in Latin and in Indian.”

“He used to visit the Indians along the Railroad and in the trap-line camps, travelling on snow shoes, sleeping on the ground in the wigwams and often had not proper food to eat on these visits to the Indian camps.”

“Father Couture had made many open hearts to the Indians where-ever he had been. He is remembered by many Indians of the Norther Ontario and when news spread telling of his death in 1949, many Indians living both on the north shore of Lake Superior as well as the far northern part of Ontario, and at home here in Longlac, were all in tears.”

An English Protestant told me that at his funeral it was remarkable how Indians came from hundreds of miles away to pay their respects – a demonstration of the love which they felt for him and also of the effectiveness of the “Moccasin Telegraph” about which he loved to tell.

He was a great man and even as he sleeps here in this church, the example that he set of unselfish devotion to Christ and his fellow men can be an inspiration and guide to those who follow him.

“If we sit down at set of sun

And count the things that we have done,

And counting, find

One self-denying act, one word

That eased the heart of him who heard

One glance most kind,

That fell like sunshine where it went

Then we may count the day well spent.”

NE-ENDAMISHKANG

 

End of this series of Posts.

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j. Part Five

A L K Switzer, March 4, 1964

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j.  Part Five

The Resident Priest

 

“Resident” is a poor title to describe a man who still had nine mission centres to vist along the railway,  but is used to indicate that the long canoe voyages, dog team trips , and flying visits were ended.

In 1940 the new presbytery was completed by Father Hamel and the old cabin built for Father Couture in 1928 was transformed into a wood working shop.

When illness kept him confined to the Longlac area in 1941, it took five priests to replace him – two on the River Albany, two on Lake Nipigon and a secular priest who helped out along the railway line.

In December 1945, The Sisters of Christ the King established in Longlac to teach school, care for the sick, teach cooking and sewing to the families under their care.

At the end of January in 1947 the 25^th Anniversary of Father Couture’s ordination into the priesthood was observed.

At the time the Longlac church burned, April 1, 1948, Father Couture was bed-ridden in l”hotel-Dieu in Montreal and that Autumn he returned to the College of Sudbury.

When Father Couture was seriously ill March 3, 1949, Marcel Caouette visited him to read to him some letters.  He stayed that night to give the sisters who had been nursing the Father, some rest.  Father Couture expired in Mr. Caouette’s arms at 5:00 a.m. March 4, 1949 – a great man who had given his life for his faith and friends.

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j. Part Four

A L K Switzer, March 4, 1964 

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j.  Part Four

Life as a Flying Priest

 

Each summer, Father Couture would travel again into the regions of Ogoki, Fort Hope, Lake Sainte-Joseph, etc.  but in 1932 he found the going tougher;  lack of money, abundance of mosquitoes,  burning sun and a serious ache in one knee which hindered him when walking.

He discussed with the Department of Lands and Forests the possibility of using their planes on his trips but found they didn’t go in the direction required.

In 1932 he wrote to the General of the Jesuit Order to see if he might obtain a plane.  He pointed out the hardships and the difficulties of trying to keep in touch with his widespread flock.  He secured permission from his Provincial to obtain a plane providing that he didn’t build up any debts or count on help from the Order.

He went to Sault Ste. Marie and took flying lessons from the Department of Lands and Forests’ pilots.  He was an apt pupil and learned quickly although at the time he was 47 years of age.

His health was excellent except for a little deafness in the left ear and a tendency to arthritis in his right knee.

George Phillips his instructor, suggested he buy a “Moth” plane – a stable machine and not costly – only $5000.  To raise funds he wrote to friends, rapped on doors in towns and villages.  By February 1933 he had raised $1500. Securing money in the depth of the depression was far from easy.

In 1933 he entered hospital at Cartierville for a successful operation on his right knee.  In Montreal he met up with a fellow Jesuit, Father Tom Walsh, and they discussed the problem of money for a plane.  Walsh suggested a visit to Noah Timmins, a generous mining magnate.  At Timmins office they met Leo Timmins, son of the mining magnate and a former college mate of Walsh.  Leo was limping.  In the ensuing conversation it developed that Leo suffered from arthritis developed from a skiing injury.  Father Couture told him of his successful operation by Doctor Samson and suggested he see the same doctor.  Timmins had an operation and was cured. ( Three years later Timmins in gratitude gave Father Couture his third plane, a “Waco” which Timmins bought from Louis Bisson for $8,000).

Father Couture finally settled on the purchase of a second-hand “Gypsy Moth” bought from de Haviland in Toronto for $2200. The plane was piloted by Louis Bisson, a young aviator of much talent.  He delivered it to the Sault for Father Couture.  The plane had red wings with a large white cross painted on it and was aptly named the “Santa Maria”. Louis Bisson served Father Couture for four years 1933 -37  without pay as pilot par excellence, cook and altar boy.  The Indians called him “Bemissewinini” – the man who flies- . in those days there was neither radar nor radio and gas supply was a tremendous problem.  Bisson said in 1943 –“It is easier to cross the Atlantic today than it was some years ago to fly in the north country.”

In July 1933 they made a 4000 mile trip across the District of Patricia, starting off their journey by making two life-saving missions.

The “Gypsy Moth” was old and in poor shape.  In the fall Father Couture acquired a second plane – a Bluebird, but it lacked sufficient power and a better plane was needed.  Money to pay for those needs was always a problem.

Later that year, 1934, a small mine “Sainte Therese”  started up south of Longlac.  The promoters promised that if it was successful they would help the Indians. It could mean money to build a school, a convent, a home for the teaching sisters.  The mine operated for tenor twelve years then closed down.  Although all gold mining is a gamble and people who invest know that they stand to win or lose, Father Cadieux in his book suggests that it bothered Father Couture that his name was used to sell shares and possibly because of that some people who might not otherwise have done so, lost money.

Father Couture received his pilot’s license January 27, 1936 though he already had 300 hours and 50,000 miles to his credit as a co-pilot.

In the autumn of 1936 a plane dropped in to visit Father Couture, piloted by Father Paul Schulte, German priest who had founded an organization to furnish missionaries with modern means of travel.  He promised Father Couture help, but the war intervened before anything could come of it.

In late 1936 Louis Bisson received a letter from high Church authorities inviting him to organize an aviation service for the Arctic Missions, which request he accepted.  Father Couture was left alone to fly the rounds of his 36 missions.  Later he was aided in his flying by Marcel  (Buster)  Caouette.

In 1940 Father Couture’s northern trips ended, for two years earlier, the Oblate Fathers took the far northern missions. The third and last plane the “Waco” was sold.

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j. Part Three

A.L. K. Switzer, March 4, 1964

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j.  Part Three

Life as a Paddling Priest

Father Couture’s apostolate for purposes of description may be conveniently divided into three main stages, viz:

His trips by canoe – 1920- 1933

His trips by plane – 1933 – 1940

His subsequent ministry from 1940 until his death (March 4, 1949)

He secured his baptism as a travelling missionary of the North in the summer of 1920 when he visited the Albany with Father Desautels.

On January 25, 1922, at the age of 36 he was ordained a priest.  Sept.  8, 1922, Father Couture with eight others left for Florennes, Belgium for his Troisieme An ou ecole du Coeur – a year of post-graduate studies required for a Jesuit. He returned to Quebec, May 24, 1923.

At this point his biographer states “he will work all his life near the poor Ojibway of Northern Ontario, having no other desire than to help them spiritually and materially.”

In the first thirteen years of his life as a missionary he travelled each summer about 2000 miles by canoe and in the winter about 1500 miles on snowshoes and by dog team.  The hardships he endured on these trips can only be appreciated by those who have spent months at a time paddling through the North, living out of a packsack, or in the winter have driven a dog team pulling a heavily laden toboggan through difficult country.  And driving a dog team is a misnomer, for usually the teamster must go first to the heavy work of breaking trail and encourage his dogs to follow.

Listen to Father Cadieux’s description (taken from Father Couture’s diary) of a portion of his first summer with Father Desautels.  This was about May 20, 1920, when snow may be expected and often ice is still in the Northern lakes.

“At sunset, Father Desautels sticks into the ground a slender stick at the top of which burns a candle held by a bit of birch bark; by its feeble flickering light he reads his breviary.  Father Couture ends his reading, then rolled in his blanket, he goes to sleep. Not for long.  A chilling wolf howl wakes him in the middle of the night. His woollen blanket can’t cover at the same time both his shoulders and his feet. He shivers the remainder of the night and it will be the same quite often throughout this trip.”

“At daybreak the two travellers launch their light canoe on the waters of Lake Harris;  at the far end is a portage which leads to Lake Cache. Ah!  That portage, where is it?  They search for two hours among a string of islands large and small;  they are mistaken twice in the direction, and at last, towards evening they find the proper trail.  Too tired to portage, they pull into an island to camp.  They pitch their tent on a rocky place to be dry.  Bad weather threatens. Suddenly the storm breaks.  Beaten by rain, hail and snow, they remain there several days, shivering.  To complete their misery, Father Desautels catches cold, one side of his face is swollen, one eye is almost closed.  His stiffened jaw hinders him from eating. It is a swelling broken open in five different places. I hope that the illness will not prove mortal thinks Father Couture! Whilst he builds a big fire before the tent he cautions his superior to be careful.  And then as the storm diminishes in intensity, Father Desautels ‘ good health returns.”

 

The second summer he returned North with Father Belanger. He was learning the Ojibway tongue and how to travel in the North.

The third summer he was at Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island learning the beautiful but difficult Ojibway language.

In 1924 he had mastered the Ojibway speech well enough to conduct his missions in that tongue.  That summer he made a trip with Father Vincent Beaulieu of the College du Sacre-Coeur at Sudbury – from Bucke (Savant Lake) on the north line to Lac Saint-Joseph then back to Hearst and from Pagwa to Ogoki and return.  On this trip as on all others the work and the hardships and the lost time are incidental to the object of the trip viz preaching, teaching catechism, blessing marriages, visiting the sick, consoling the bereaved and settling differences.

In February, 1925 he was attacked by arthritis, a malady that would continue to bother him periodically until his death.

In 1927 he used an outboard motor on his canoe and one present resident says that when he returned after a summer on one of these odysseys  in the North that the motor would be battered and worn out.

In 1931 he was accompanied on his trip by the Reverend Father William Hingston, Provincial of the Jesuits of Upper Canada, and by a seminarian, Father Alexandre Rolland, who was ordained in 1934.

From time to time he called in the Indians for a few days of study.  These study periods would last three days with questions, answers, songs, prayers, etc.

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j. Part Two

A.L. K. Switzer,  March 4, 1964 Part two:

Early Life of Father Couture

Father Cadieux’s task as a biographer was lightened by having access to 140 letters written by Father Couture to his sister Madame Alfred Avard, mother of Longlac’s Jean-Louis Avard.  Father Couture too left a few leaflets – about 30 – concerning himself and his thoughts.

Born of the union of Francois-Xavier Couture and Celine Audet,  October 17, 1885 at St. Anseline-de-Dorchester, Province de Quebec, he was the sixth child and first son in a family of six girls and three boys.  He was baptised Joseph-Xavier.  His father was a Road Master with the Quebec Central Railway.  While he was attending primary school he fell ill.  He was a voracious reader and at this time showed a strong desire to emulate Francois-Zavier, who with Loyola was one of the founders of the Jesuit Order.

He took a commercial course at Sainte-Marie de Beauce and then evinced an interest in taking classical studies.  In 1902 at the age of 16 he entered the College de Levis.  He found Greek and Latin roots not particularly to his liking and longed for action and fresh air.  At this time he was offered a job as fireman on the Quebec Central by his uncle Onesime and he told his superior he would like to take it.

The Superior reasoned with him.  Then Joseph Couture declared awkwardly “but Monsieur L’Abbe, I haven’t a calling to the priesthood…I like …the young girls.”  They talked the matter over together and before the discussion ended student Joseph was convinced that he was called by God.  At Easter 1906 he attended a “triduum” or three day prayer session at the Novitiate of the Jesuit Fathers in Montreal and at that time his final decision was taken.

Following this he spent five months as a fireman on the Quebec Central Railway and on September 13, 1906 he entered the Novitiate of Sault-du- Recollet.  On his entry to the Novitiate at Sault-du-Recollet he produced a bottle of whiskey from his pocket.  His uncle Onesine had given it to him as a present saying “my boy, in case of stress take some, it will give you courage.” A little astonished the Father Superior laughingly told him that the apprentices were not accustomed to taking strong drinks and it would be necessary to sacrifice the bottle.  Joseph explained that he didn’t drink but his uncle had given it to him to please him.  He offered it to the Superior to be used for the sick, - as for him he would put his faith in miracles.

On the completion of his apprenticeship Joseph took up literary and philosophic studies.  He was a real student  - long hours were the rule. At this stage he took the name Joseph-Marie Couture. In July 1913 he left Montreal for Spanish, Ontario, an apprentice missionary at the age of 27.  At the Indian Industrial School in Spanish, Father Napoleon Dugas,  the Superior, was among those who welcomed him.  After four years of mastership here he counted on returning to Montreal to begin his theological studies, however, he was prevailed upon to remain another year as the need for good teachers was great.

Finally he got away to start his higher studies but “hardly had he begun his theological studies than he received a message from his Provincial, Father Filion, asking him to set out again for Spanish.”  It was 1918 and the death-dealing influenza had hit.  For eleven days and nights out of night-marish fourteen, he and Father Gamache nursed 105 critically ill children and six Fathers and Brothers.  Despite heroic efforts on the part of Joseph and Father Gamache, eight of the children died.

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j. Part One

A.L.K. Switzer  March 4, 1964

Father Joseph-Marie Couture, s.j.

Ne-endamishkang – “The One We Love To See Come”

Who was Father Couture?

How did he earn the name so full of meaning, “Ne-endamishkang” given him by his Ojibway children?

The story is an inspiring one told with sympathetic understanding by a fellow Jesuit, Father Lorenzo Cadieux, S.j. in the book “De L’Aviron a L’Avion” – from paddle to plane – published in 1961, and which won the Prix Champlain – 1958.

In the next (while) I shall tell you a little about this much loved man of God with material taken from Father Cadieux’s book, supplemented by interviews with many persons living in Longlac, Geraldton and Nipigon who knew the man well.

History of the Roman Catholic Church in Longlac

As a background to my remarks on Father Couture it may be well to briefly review the earlier history of the Roman Catholic missions in this area.

White men were in Longlac at least as early as 1763 for there is in the National Archives in Ottawa, a map dated in that year which indicates the position of Long Lake.  At least as early as 1800 the Northwest Fur Company had a post on Long Lake on the clearing now owned by Mr. Verdun Gauthier and known to some as the “Old Hudson’s Bay Farm”.  In 1814 a Hudson’s Bay Post was established adjacent to them and the Hudson’s Bay Company has been here continuously since, having taken over the Northwest Fur Company in 1821.

In 1831 Father Frederic Baraga carried his mission throughout the coasts of Lake Superior.

Father Nicholas Fremiot visited the Nipigon area in 1852.

Dominique du Ranquet was in the general area in the period 1853 – 1877 and it was he who inaugurated the spreading of the Christian gospel in Longlac in 1864. Each year thereafter until Father Couture, first resident priest, took up his abode here in 1927, there was at least one visit annually by a priest.

1877-1880 Father Joseph Hebert was the missionary priest. It was he who with Father Gagnon cut the logs for the first Roman Catholic Church here.

1880- 1897 – Father Joseph Specht

1898 – 1906 – Father Napoleon Dugas

1907 – 1910 – Father Prosper Lamarche

1910 – 1912 – Father Napoleon Dugas

1912 – 1924 – Father Charles Belanger

1924 – 1949 – Father Joseph-Marie Couture ( died March 4, 1949 – buried in crypt of the Church of the Infant Jesus, Longlac)

1949 – 1963 – Father Alphonse Hamel ( Died March 14 (?) 1963 and buried in Indian Cemetery, Longlac)

1963 – Father Alexandre Rolland

The first Roman Catholic Church in Longlac was completed in 1884.  It was 28 feet by 38 feet and the foundation logs may still be seen. The floor was of whip-sawed tamarack planks and the interior was lined with sheets of birch bark as would be used in making a tepee or canoe.  This was on the shore of Long Lake not far east of the present “Mac’s Tourist Camp”. In 1888 a 104 pound bell was installed and His Excellence Monseigneur Z. Lorraine, Bishop of Pembroke was present for the ceremony of blessing.  Sometime about the turn of the century the church was moved to the Hudson’s Bay Farm.  Parts of this building were moved about 1921 to the site on which we  are gathered tonight and became the well known red-painted church30 feet by 40 feet which burned down April 1, 1948.  The tables, benches and altar railings were these used in church #1 and #2.  In the same year the present fine edifice was erected, largely due to the efforts of the late Father Hamel and with generous help from Archbishop Charbonneau of Montreal and Bishop Landry of Hearst.

So much for a little history of the area and a brief glance at the names and terms of service of the priests who were here.  Now let us take a look at the man whom we came here to-night to remember and whose memory we came to honour.

End of part one: