Rome in Canada: The Vatican and Canadian Affairs in the Late Victorian Age

320 Pages·1990·18.41 MB·English

by  Roberto Perin

ROME IN CANADA
The Vatican and Canadian Affairs
in the Late Victorian Age
In the three decades after Confederation, an aggressive Anglo-Saxon
nationalism struggled to imprint its cultural model on the emerging
Canadian state. It was countered by a defensive French-Canadian
nationalism chiefly articulated by a majority within the Roman
Catholic clergy. Roberto Perin explores the role of the Vatican in the
struggle and in the political, religious, and cultural life of Canada
during the period.
Perin begins by charting the historical development of the Catholic
church in Canada in its all-important regional dimension. He sug-
gests that Rome acted as another Canadian metropolis, where deci-
sions concerning the young country's future were taken by clerical
bureaucrats, mostly Italians, who had never set foot in North Amer-
ica.
Rome and its apostolic delegates to the Canadian church took
positions on a wide range of Canadian matters. They included the
political controversies of the day, Catholic education (particularly
after Manitoba abolished denominational schools), immigration, and
the relations between the upper and lower clergy. Placing the discus-
sion in international and diplomatic contexts, Perin finds that such
questions as Catholic education and immigration were influenced by
events in the United States as well as by interest groups in Great
Britain and continental Europe.
Ultimately, the Vatican failed to support the French Canadians'
brand of nationalism, despite the fact that they represented three-
quarters of the Catholic population in Canada. That failure of support
contributed to the victory of an Anglo-Saxon Protestant nationalist
version of Canada.
ROBERTO PERIN is Associate Professor in the department of History
at Atkinson College, York University. He is co-editor, with Franc
Sturino, of Arrangiarsi: The Italian Immigration Experience in
Canada.
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ROBERTO PERIN
Rome in Canada
The Vatican and Canadian
Affairs in the Late
Victorian Age
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
© University of Toronto Press 1990
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-5854-X (cloth)
ISBN 0-8020-6762-X (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Perin, Roberto
Rome in Canada
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8020-5854-X (bound) ISBN 0-8020-6762-X (pbk.)
1. Catholic Church - Relations (diplomatic) -
Canada. 2. Canada — Foreign relations - Catholic
Church. 3. Canada — Politics and government -
1867-1896.* 4. Canada - Politics and government -
1896-1911.* 5. Catholic Church - Canada. I. Title.
BX1421.P41990 327.45'634'071 C89-095479-8
PICTURE CREDITS: Archives du Seminaire de Quebec Cardinal Ledochowski,
Cardinal Rampolla, Benjamin Paquet, Callixte Marquis, Bishop Conroy,
Archbishop B6gin; National Archives of Canada Apostolic delegation
Ottawa PA 10545, Henri Smeulders C52222, Merry del Val C51965; National
Gallery of Art, Washington Diomede Falconio; Map Janet Allin
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Vll
Introduction 3
1 Towards a National Church? 11
2 Rome: Another Canadian Metropolis 39
3 The Delegation:
An Outsider's Inside View of the Church 70
4 Tutto e politica:
A Question of Undue Influence 95
5 A House of Cards:
The Laurier-Greenway Agreement and Its Aftermath 127
6 Pariahs of the Nation:
Immigrants within the Church 158
7 The Delegate as Arbiter 187
Conclusion 214
NOTES 229
BIBLIOGRAPHY 281
INDEX 289
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Acknowledgments
I would like to express my thanks to a number of people who made this
study possible. First among them is Pierre Hurtubise o.m.i., rector of
St Paul University, Ottawa, who first suggested the topic to me. My
deep appreciation also goes to the staff at the archives of the Vatican:
Josef Metzler o.m.i., prefect of the Archivio Segreto Vaticano, archi-
vists Monsignor Charles Burns and especially the late Monsignor
Ottavio Cavalleri, who led me to the papers of the apostolic delegation
to Canada, as well as Claudio De Dominicis who has done tremendous
work organizing these papers and those of the apostolic delegation to
the United States; Monsignor Marcello Camisassa, the prelate in
charge of the archives of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesi-
astical Affairs, as well as a former assistant in these archives, Suor
Dominguez; finally, the anonymous but ever efficient staff at the
archives of the Propaganda Fide.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Canadian Academic
Centre in Italy for facilitating my research and especially to Antonella
D'Agostino, its executive assistant, for her incomparable adeptness at
opening doors in Roman officialdom. The Canadian embassy to the
Holy See, through the very able Jacqueline Petrassi, was also most
helpful. Yvon Beaulne, then ambassador, received me with the exqui-
site courtesy that distinguishes him and impressed me with his
breadth of interests, including those concerning the problems studied
below. I would like to thank Leonard Boyle o.p., prefect of the Vatican
Library, and Robert Robidoux p.s.s., rector of the Pontifical Canadian
College, for their encouragement during my stay in Rome. I am also
indebted to Monique Benoit, Matteo Sanfilippo, Luigi Bruti-Liberati,
viii Acknowledgments
and Nicoletta Serio whose inventories of Canadian documents in the
Vatican archives proved invaluable in checking sources.
I would like to acknowledge the precious assistance of Atkinson
College, York University, for providing a leave fellowship which
allowed me to write my manuscript unencumbered by teaching and
administrative responsibilities. Special thanks go to Daniel Drache,
colleague and friend, whose long tirades against free trade kept me in
touch with the real world during my writing. Intellectual encourage-
ment came from Pierre Savard, Paul Crunican, Cornelius Jaenen,
Matteo Sanfilippo (bis), Gabriele Scardellato, and finally Luca Codig-
nola, who never tires of speaking about the riches of the Vatican
archives to Canadian academics. I am indebted to Gerry Hallowell of
the University of Toronto Press for his kind encouragement and
concern in shepherding the book through the various stages of
production, and to Diane Mew whose professional editorial hand and
critical mind made the manuscript ready for publication. Last but not
least, a fond thanks to my wife Yvonne (who did not type this
manuscript) and to my children, Pier-Paolo, Dominique, and Alexis,
for their patience with what they so reverently called my enthusiasm
for 'dead priests.' To them this book is dedicated.
The building of the Collegio della Propaganda Fide in Rome: front fa?ade by
Gian Lorenzo Bernini