Canada was not always so comforting; he felt especially deeply the loss
of two great benefactresses of Canada, Madame de la Peltrie and Mother
Incarnation. The former had used her entire fortune in founding the
Convent of the Ursulines at Quebec. Heaven had lavished its gifts upon
her; endowed with brilliant qualities, and adding riches to beauty, she
was happy in possessing these advantages only because they allowed her
to offer them to the Most High, who had given them to her. She devoted
herself to the Christian education of young girls, and passed in Canada
the last thirty-two years of her life. The Abbé Casgrain draws the
following portrait of her: "Her whole person presented a type of
attractiveness and gentleness. Her face, a beautiful oval, was
remarkable for the harmony of its lines and the perfection of its
contour. A slightly aquiline nose, a clear cut and always smiling mouth,
a limpid look veiled by long lashes which the habit of meditation kept
half lowered, stamped her features with an exquisite sweetness. Though
her frail and delicate figure did not exceed medium height, and though
everything about her breathed modesty and humility, her gait was
nevertheless full of dignity and nobility; one recognized, in seeing
her, the descendant of those great and powerful lords, of those perfect
knights whose valiant swords had sustained throne and altar. Through the
most charming simplicity there were ever manifest the grand manner of
the seventeenth century and that perfect distinction which is
traditional among the families of France. But this majestic _ensemble_
was tempered by an air of introspection and unction which gave her
conversation an infinite charm, and it gained her the esteem and
affection of all those who had had the good fortune to know her." She
died on November 18th, 1671, only a few days after the departure for
France of the apostolic vicar.

[Illustration: The Ursuline Convent, Quebec