The ''Jesuit Estates Act'' ( or ) was an 1888 Act of the

Legislative Assembly of Quebec A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

that compensated the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

for land confiscated in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

by the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

after the suppression of the Society in 1774. When the revived Society returned to Canada in 1842, they began to campaign for the repossession of their allegedly confiscated estates. The premier of Quebec,

Honoré Mercier Honoré Mercier (October 15, 1840 – October 30, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician in Quebec. He was the ninth premier of Quebec from January 27, 1887, to December 21, 1891, as leader of the Parti National or Quebec Libera ...

, proposed the ''Jesuit Estates Act'', which offered the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

a financial settlement in return for incorporating the estates into Quebec's

Crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

s. This measure provoked much controversy among Orangemen and

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, but it was not overturned.

History

Settlement in Quebec

Following the

Suppression of the Jesuits Suppression may refer to: Laws * Suppression of Communism Act *Suppression order a type of censorship where a court rules that certain information cannot be published * Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand aimed ...

Pope Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV (; ; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in September 1774. At the time of his elec ...

in 1773, their lands in the

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

were seized by the

in 1791, but possession was not taken until 1800, after all of their priests had either died or left Canada. The lands were subsequently transferred to the

Province of Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec a ...

in 1831, and the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

passed legislation in 1832 providing for all income arising from the estates to be segregated from other Crown property and dedicated for educational purposes. After the Order was restored by

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII (; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was head of the Catholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He ruled the Papal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again ...

in 1814 by virtue of the

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum ''Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum'' (''The care of all Churches'') was a papal bull issued in 1814 by Pope Pius VII, reestablishing the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) after its suppression by the 1773 breve issued by Clement XIV, '' Dominus ac Redem ...

'', it was re-established in Canada in the 1840s, and in the following years it campaigned for compensation in order to establish a new Catholic university in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. The province's archbishop,

Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (; February 17, 1820 – April 12, 1898) was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1871 until his death in 1898. The first Canadian cardinal, he was elevated to the ...

, instead proposed that the estates be sold off and the money divided among existing Catholic schools. PapaleoXIII

Through the mediation of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

, a compromise was reached, and resulting Act in 1888 authorized a settlement which consisted of: :* a payment of to be divided on the direction of the Pope (which went to the Jesuits,

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

, and several Roman Catholic dioceses) :* the vesting of Laprairie Common in the Society, and :* a payment of to the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction for appropriate investment by it.

Move for federal disallowance

In the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in February 1889,

John Augustus Barron John Augustus Barron (July 11, 1850 in Toronto, Canada West – January 8, 1936 in Stratford, Ontario) was a Canadian politician and lawyer. He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1887 as Member of the Liberal Party in the rid ...

asked Minister of Justice John Thompson if the federal government would disallow the Quebec act. After Thompson replied that there was no intention,

William Edward O'Brien William Edward O'Brien (March 10, 1831 – December 21, 1914) was a lawyer, farmer, militia officer, editor and political figure in Ontario, Canada. He represented Muskoka and Parry Sound (federal electoral district), Muskoka and Parry Soun ...

proposed a resolution the following month requesting such action. In the subsequent debate, tensions were escalated when

Dalton McCarthy Dalton McCarthy (October 10, 1836 – May 11, 1898), or D'Alton McCarthy, was a Canadian lawyer and parliamentarian. He was the leader of the " Orange" or Protestant Irish Canadians, and fiercely fought against Irish Catholics as well as t ...

declared: The Conservative government of

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political ...

, together with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

under

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadians, French ...

, united to defeat the motion. The latter exclaimed, "Sir, this is not a party question; it is at most a family quarrel; it is simply a domestic disturbance in the ranks of the Conservative party." Sir John Alexander Macdonald Nov 1833 Topley portrait

Sir John Alexander Macdonald Nov 1833 Topley portrait

In closing the debate, Macdonald declared: By 188 to 13, the motion was defeated.

Impact and aftermath

The thirteen MPs that supported the resolution came to be known as either the "Noble Thirteen" or the "Devil's Dozen", and McCarthy resigned from the Conservative Party. Their subsequent efforts led to the creation of the Equal Rights Association and the

McCarthyites McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United St ...

, as well as the rise of French-language schooling conflicts in Manitoba and Ontario. In order to reduce political tensions, in 1890 the Parliament of Canada passed an Act for the incorporation of the

Orange Order in Canada The Loyal Orange Association in Canada, historically the Loyal Orange Association in British America and also known as the Loyal Orange Association of Canada, Grand Orange Lodge of Canada, or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch ...

. This recognized the political influence that the Orangeman had attained, which greatly affected the outcome of the 1891 federal election. The campaign for the Act's disallowance was one of many religious disputes that arose in 19th-Century and early 20th-Century Canada, which included the dissolution of the

clergy reserve Clergy reserves were tracts of land in Upper Canada and Lower Canada reserved for the support of "Protestant clergy" by the Constitutional Act 1791. One-seventh of all surveyed Crown lands were set aside, totaling and respectively for each provin ...

s in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

, the

Guibord case ''Brown v Les Curé et Marguilliers de l'Œuvre et Fabrique de Notre Dame de Montréal'', better known as the ''Guibord case'', was a decision in 1874 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in an early Canadian legal dispute over the rela ...

in the 1870s, the

Manitoba Schools Question The Manitoba Schools Question () was a political crisis in the Canadian province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, attacking publicly-funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants. The crisis was precipitated by a ...

in the 1890s, and Ontario's

Regulation 17 Regulation 17 () was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July 1912 by the Progr ...

in 1912.

External links

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References