Letter of Pierre Rémy to Pierre Cholenec, March 12, 1696

In 1695, in the month of March, Marie Madeleine Fortin, twenty years old, was unable to be delivered of her child. Several good women had been called but could not help her. Hearing that this woman would die in childbirth, as a matter of fact, that was an unfortunate year for pregnant women, for several had died in Montreal, some neighbours brought her earth from the tomb and ashes of the clothing of Catherine Tekakwitha. They had her drink water in which these had been soaked, promise to have a novena made at her grave and to go there herself to offer her devotions and to have a Mass said where the body lies. Meanwhile this woman sent for me to have me say a Mass for her intention. This I did, and during the Mass or a little after, her child was born without much pain. Afterwards I baptized her child, who at the time I write of this miracle is very well, as is also the mother, who fulfilled her vow with great gratitude.

In 1684, Madeleine Bougerey, a woman then thirty-two years old, suffered from a loss or flow of blood for several months and without finding any relief. Her neighbour, named Michelle Perrin, advised her to have recourse to Catherine Tekakwitha. Accordingly she promised to have a Mass said through her intercession at the church of Saint Francis Xavier at the Sault, where Catherine’s body lies. During that time she was relieved and finally was entirely cured of the flow of blood. Afterwards she fulfilled her vow.

In 1683, in the month of April, Madeleine Moisan, a woman of twenty years old, went astray in the forest. After having walked for half a day through the forests, savannas, marshes without recognizing what part of the island she was in, she heard the sound of the falls of Saint Louis in the distance, and recalling several miracles that she had heard were granted by God through the intercession of Catherine Tekakwitha, whose body was buried on the shore of a little river, she made a vow and promised to have a Mass said. A little while later she found herself in an open place opposite Sault Saint Louis, two leagues from the place where she had gone astray. The next day she fulfilled her vow by having the Mass said, which she had promised the day before.

In 1693, this same woman was nursing her baby when she developed a trouble in her left breast that prevented her from nursing her child. Remembering that three years before she had been afflicted in the same way and that the surgeons had treated her at the hospital for three months, she could not decide to put herself in the hands of the surgeons again. She came to tell me of her affliction. I advised her to commend herself to Catherine Tekakwitha and to say the Our Father in her honour nine times a day for nine days. At the end of the novena she found herself perfectly cured without having taken neither any remedy nor placing anything on her breast.

In 1696, last February, the eldest daughter of this same woman, Angélique Colmé, aged seventeen, had a sort of cancer of her mouth and came to ask me for a remedy. I gave her some zinc sulphate to rub on her mouth, but this did no good. Quite desolate, the mother came to see me. I advised her and her daughter to have recourse to Catherine Tekakwitha, to make a novena by saying in her honour nine Hail Mary during nine days, and for my part I promised to make a reminder of her each day at the Sacrifice of the Mass to try to obtain from God her cure through the intercession of His Servant. I again gave her zinc sulphate mixed with water in which I had put a pinch of the ashes of the clothing of Catherine Tekakwitha. With this she rubbed her mouth inside and out during the novena. For the first three days her trouble grew worst, and as she was obliged to go to bed, I went to see her and found her mouth unpleasant to look at and quite distorted. I encouraged her to be patient and to keep up her confidence in the servant of God. The trouble began to diminish and before the novena was finished that she was entirely cured.

In 1691, Marie Beauvais, the wife of Master Jean Baptiste Pottier, Royal Notary of Montreal, then twenty-two years old, was afflicted with gallstones. She and her husband promised to have a Mass said at the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, of the Sault Saint Louis, where lies the body of Catherine Tekakwitha, to obtain from God through her intercession the cure, which later this woman actually received when her vow was made. The husband went immediately to the Sault to have the Mass said. I record what the woman and her husband have old me and affirmed.

In 1695, Catherine Angélique Montour, a woman of twenty-two years old, after several months of slow fever, feared what was worst that she would cause a miscarriage, such as she had the year before, for she was six months pregnant. She sent for me to come and heard her confession. I did so and afterwards I gave her some ashes of the clothing of Catherine Tekakwitha to take in water during nine days, saying nine Hail Mary each day, and told her to have a Mass said in Catherine’s honour or through her intercession, with the promise that if she recovered her health and was successfully delivered, she would go to offer her devotions at the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, at the Sault Saint Louis, where Catherine’s bones repose. When the novena was over this woman began to improve, the fever left her and at the end of three months her baby was born at the accomplished time. I baptized him and at this writing that he is well.

In 1694, in the month of July, Juliette Marie Léger, a woman of thirty-three years old, pregnant for five or six months, was troubled with a violent fever during the entire summer. Since she had taken several remedies without receiving any help, her neighbours fearing that she would die, sent for me to hear her confession. I did so. I brought her my reliquary in which there is some earth from the grave of Catherine Tekakwitha and some ashes of her clothing. I put some of this in a little bag, had her make a vow to go to her tomb, to have a Mass said there, and in the meantime to say nine Hail Mary a day for nine days, promising her to remember her each day of this novena in the Sacrifice of the Mass. A few days after the novena was finished the fever ceased, she began to feel better, and finally she was delivered of her child at the right time. I baptized the child who is well at the time that I am writing. She fulfilled her vow with all possible devotion.

In 1694, Marguerite Plumereau, then a woman of twenty-two years old, suffered several violent attacks of fever, without getting any relief from remedies. She had recourse to Catherine Tekakwitha and promised God that if she recovered her health through the merits and intercession of His Servant, she would go to offer her devotions in the church where the body lies. As soon as her vow was made, which the fever ceased, and she then went to fulfill her vow.

In the same year, 1694, when fever was very common on this island, Marie Roy, then a woman of twenty-five years old, after two months of continual fever which had weakened her body and reduced her to the last extremity, sent to beg me to come and to hear her confession. I did so, and advised her to have recourse to Catherine Tekakwitha, to have confidence in her that she would obtain a cure from God through her intercession, and I gave her in a little bag some earth from her grave to take for nine days in water or broth, and told her to say nine Hail Mary a day during the novena, while I for my part would remember her during the novena in the Sacrifice of the Mass, I had her promise that if she recovered her health she would go to have a Mass said and offer her devotions in the church where Catherine’s bones repose. As soon as the novena was over, the fever ceased. Since then she has been well and has fulfilled her vow.

In 1695, Marie Saint-Cyr, a woman of eighteen years old, was unable to be delivered of her first child after nearly three days in labour. Knowing herself to be in danger, she sent to beg me to say a Mass for her safe delivery. I did so, but I first sent her my reliquary in which there is earth from the grave of Catherine Tekakwitha and some ashes of her clothing. Though her sister, Catherine Saint-Cyr, I told her that she should hang this reliquary on her neck and should have confidence in the servant of God. As soon as she put the reliquary on her neck, she happily delivered. I baptized her child, who at this writing is well, as also is his mother. Six days afterwards this same woman, being taken ill enough to die, sent for me to pray to God for her. I sent her some ashes of the clothing in a little bag, to have her take some in water for nine days, advising her to say every day of the novena nine Hail Mary, while I should remember her each of these nine days in the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass. At the end of the novena she began to feel better and entirely recovered her health.

In 1693, Michelle Garnier, a woman of sixty-four years old, when attacked with a fever that reduced her to the last extremity, sent to ask me to hear her confession. I did so and afterwards gave her some purgative pastes of the clergy, in which I had mixed some earth from the grave of Catherine Tekakwitha, I advised her to have recourse to her. She did so and truly the woman was cured.

In the present year, 1696, in March, I was coming back from my mission. When passing by Fort Cuellèrier, Jacques Lantier, a farmer of this fortress, and Catherine Angélique Montour, his wife, told me that their daughter named Catherine, three years old, was dying and that they had offered her to God through the merits and the intercession of Catherine Tekakwitha, and begged me to say a Mass for her intention in order to obtain her cure. On that very day their daughter began to be better, and the day after I had said the Mass she was entirely cured.

In 1694, the Iroquois, made incursions into this entire island and the surroundings during the spring and summer. When there was a drought of more than two months that threatened the parish with loss of their crops and a famine, the women and the young girls made three novenas in succession to obtain from God, through the intercession of Catherine Tekakwitha, rain and the preservation of their families, their persons, their animals and their grains. For, on the second day of the novena it began to rain a little and on the ninth day and for several following there fell an abundance of rain. This revived all the grains that were drying and dying in the fields. This year was fertile and abundant. Not one person of this parish was taken or killed by them, nor were their animals nor their grain damaged by their enemies, whereas in several other places of this island and in the surroundings, they attacked, killed, and carried off a number of people.

I shall finish this account, my Reverend Father, with the cure in a certain manner miraculous, which happened this last winter, in December, to François Gauntier de Rané, an officer of the Commandant of the Marine, Commandant for the King of the fort of our Church of the Holy Angels, of Lachine.
When he was coming back from Montreal, though all in perspiration, he stopped to see me. As soon as he arrived his soldiers came to tell him that one of the boats of the garrison had broken loose. He ran down and jumped into the water to fasten it. At first he was stunned by the cold of the water and then he suffered a severe colic, with dreadful vomiting, so that it was necessary to send to the town for a surgeon to cure him. Though the surgeon gave him several remedies, the trouble increased, and when the nephritic colic closed his intestines, food and remedies could not pass or flow into the lower abdomen. This caused him continual vomiting, with a hiccough that would not stop.
When the surgeon despaired the man, I went to hear his confession, to prepare him to receive Extreme Unction, and to resign him to death. After confessing him, I advised him to have recourse to Catherine Tekakwitha and to promise God that if it pleased Him to cure him through the merits and intercession of His Servant, he would go to have a Mass said in the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, at the Sault Saint Louis, where the body of Catherine Tekakwitha lies and that he would there offer his devotions. He begged me to make a novena here in the church and to say three Masses for his intention. I did so. During this time, I had him take water in which I had soaked a little bag with ashes of Catherine’s clothing. The surgeon brought him a medicine consisting of a mixture of hyacinth and liquid gold. This, mixed with some of the ashes, made him emit several large live worms. During the novena he began to feel better and at the end of it he recovered his health perfectly. I must accompany him with his wife and several of my parishioners to go to fulfill his vow, if the weather permits, on the next April seventeenth, the day of the anniversary of Catherine Tekakwitha.
There, my Reverend Father is a brief account of the wonders and the miraculous cures that it has pleased Our Lord to permit in my parish during sixteen years that I have served it, through the intercession and merits of this Servant of God. I have had a perfect knowledge of them, not only as an eyewitness, but through the faithful report that has often been made to me by my parishioners, men and women named herein above, to whose homes I have gone expressly to inform myself as to what they remember. It is for that reason that I have not been able sooner to send you this account, which I began the twelfth of the present month, and which I am finishing only on the thirtieth day of the month of this present year, 1696, signed by my hand to serve and be available in any time and place.

Rémy, curé de Lachine