than nine hundred thousand francs, as one may see by the archives of the
Department of Marine at Paris. These sums to-day would represent a large
fortune.

Finally the prayers of Mgr. de Laval were heard; Pope Clement X signed
on October 1st, 1674, the bulls establishing the diocese of Quebec,
which was to extend over all the French possessions in North America.
The sovereign pontiff incorporated with the new bishopric for its
maintenance the abbey of Maubec, given by the King of France already in
1662, and in exchange for the renunciation by this prince of his right
of presentation to the abbey of Maubec, granted him the right of
nomination to the bishopric of Quebec. To his first gift the king had
added a second, that of the abbey of Lestrées. Situated in Normandy and
in the archdeaconry of Evreux, this abbey was one of the oldest of the
order of Citeaux.

Up to this time the venerable bishop had had many difficulties to
surmount; he was about to meet some of another sort, those of the
administration of vast properties. The abbey of Maubec, occupied by
monks of the order of St. Benedict, was situated in one of the fairest
provinces of France, Le Perry, and was dependent upon the archdiocese of
Bourges. Famous vineyards, verdant meadows, well cultivated fields, rich
farms, forests full of game and ponds full of fish made this abbey an
admirable domain; unfortunately, the expenses of maintaining or
repairing the buildings, the dues payable to the government, the
allowances secured to the monks, and above all, the waste and theft
which must necessarily victimize proprietors separated from their
tenants by the whole breadth of an ocean, must absorb a great part of
the revenues. Letters of the steward of this property to the Bishop of
Quebec are instructive in this matter. "M. Porcheron is still the same,"