Bourgeois reflected that in the then unsettled state of things, and for
the security of the institution, it would be necessary to obtain letters
patent from the King. The reflection was a wise one, but to obtain the
letters would expose her to much personal humiliation, and also to great
dissipation and loss of time. At first it seemed possible to arrange
matters by procuring the approbation of the home authorities, that is to
say, of the Bishop and Governor-General. So she determined to set out
for Quebec, to present her petition to these distinguished persons,
hoping to have little difficulty in making them understand the utility
of the establishment. Messrs. Souart and Perrot gave her letters of
recommendation, and the inhabitants of Montreal, who knew the great
virtues and talents she concealed beneath the veil of humility,
assembled _en masse_ in the Seminary, to give to her petition the weight
of their united signatures. They also sent by her an humble supplication
to his majesty, or his representatives, entreating that the royal
sanction be given to insure the success of the establishment. Each one
separately signed his name to the document, and placed it in her hands.
They were all the more eager to help as they had often been compelled to
send their children to Quebec to the Ursulines, and the pressing need of
a home institution was becoming more apparent each day. Full of
confidence in God and His holy Mother, and furnished with these
respectable documents, she finally decided on no half-way course, but
set sail again for France, in the autumn of 1670, fearing neither
danger, nor the inconveniences conveniences of a third sea-voyage, to
obtain the succors she needed for others, more than for herself. What a
sublime spectacle it was, to see an humble, unattended woman cross the
great sea alone, and go in her simple attire, into the brilliant court
of the Great King, Louis XIV., to treat of the interests of religion and
the glory of God. Her success was as singular as her enterprise, and
though the journey was long, and full of pain and fatigue (she did not