- In the Oblate novitiate (1846-1847)
- In the United States
- Two Oblates in Illinois. Father Brunet in prison
- Apostasy, last years
Charles Chiniquy was born in Kamouraska (Lower Canada), on July 30, 1809. He studied in the seminary of Nicolet and was ordained to the priesthood on September 21, 1833. Having ministered as assistant priest in a few parishes, Archbishop Joseph Signay of Quebec appointed him pastor of Beauport in 1838. There he founded a temperance society of which many of the parishioners became members. In 1842 the archbishop transferred him to Kamouraska where he took care of the schools and preached temperance successfully in the parish and in the surrounding area and even as far away as Montreal. In 1844 he published a book which was a manual or rule for the temperance society and addressed to young Canadians (Manuel ou Règlement de la société de tempérance dédiée à la jeunesse canadienne).
In the Oblate novitiate (1846-1847)
On October 28, 1846, Chiniquy began his novitiate with the Oblates in Longueuil. He informed Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal of his decision to do so and asked him “to pray the God of mercy to pardon the numberless faults which I have committed in my time as pastor, faults which merit tears of blood.” In fact he had scandalised the faithful by his licentious conduct. To the parishioners he justified his actions by saying that, with the Oblates, he would have an army of collaborators to preach temperance. He expressed the same motivation in a letter, dated December 9, 1846, to a priest friend, Father Mailloux, inviting him to come and join him in the Oblates. “If only you knew how discipline gives strength, how unity, understanding and the charity which reigns in community increases the means for the conversion of peoples!
During his novitiate he wrote to friends telling them of his happiness. For example, on December 6, 1846, he wrote to Father Cazeau, vicar general of Quebec: “The solitude and the silence of the cloister are as they have always been, the most pleasant place for man to be but especially for the priest whose only desire is to be concerned with his great business … I have before my eyes, every day, admirable examples of every virtue and there is no book or sermon like example to help in the practice of virtue…”
During his novitiate, Chiniquy went several times to Montreal to see to the publication of the second edition of his Manual on temperance. As a result it was decided to prolong his time of probation. He mentioned this in a letter to Father Cazeau on November 14, 1847. At the beginning of 1847 the possibility of Father Bruno Guigues being appointed bishop of Bytown was being mentioned. Most of the Oblates in Canada were unhappy at the appointment of their superior whom the considered indispensable to their community. They wrote to Bishop de Mazenod their discontent and the novice Chiniquy wrote an “ill-advised” letter which greatly displeased the Founder. In the general council meeting of December 15, 1847, he was not admitted to vows. He had written to Father Cazeau on December 6, 1847, that he left the novitiate and he said: “In my opinion, there is no religious house today where the superior abandons the title and quality of father in order to take up that of Lord” Nevertheless, he added “In any case, I can never sufficiently thank the good Lord for the grace he has given me of being able to spend 14 months in solitude, sharing my time in prayer, study and meditation.”
On leaving the novitiate he withdrew to live with his friend Father Louis Moïse Brassard, the pastor of Longueuil and he asked Bishop Bourget to allow him to work in the diocese of Montreal. He then spoke critically of the Oblates and he exercised a bad influence on Father Brassard who no longer wished to be concerned with the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary as long as Father Allard remained their spiritual director.
In the United States
From 1848 to 1851, Chiniquy preached temperance with great success in the diocese of Montreal where he was well known and quite popular. However, in 1851, for reasons similar to those that had caused his departure from Beauport and Kamouraska, Bishop Bourget asked him to leave the diocese. It was at that time that Bishop James Oliver Van de Velde, bishop of Chicago, invited Chiniquy to minister to the French-speaking Canadians in his diocese. He went to live in Saint Anne in Illinois and there he built a church, a presbytery and a school. He was soon surrounded by about 10,000 Canadians, but he was much criticised by the clergy of the surrounding parishes and there was discord in the area. Bishop Anthony O’Regan decided to send him to another parish. Chiniquy refused to obey. In 1856, the bishop suspended him and then excommunicated him. In 1858, Bishop James Duggan, successor to Bishop O’Regan, confirmed the excommunication.
Two Oblates in Illinois. Father Brunet in prison
In 1856 Bishop O’Regan asked Bishop Bourget to send him some priests to counteract the influence of Chiniquy on his people. The bishop of Montreal sent two friends of the apostate priest: Fathers I.S. Lesieur-Desaulniers and L.-M. Brassard and he asked for some Oblates but Bishop Guigues could not spare any men at that time. In 1858 two friends from the diocese of Quebec went to Chicago: Fathers L. T. Bernard and A. Mailloux, and also two Oblates: Fathers Lucien Lagier and Augustin Albert Brunet. The Oblates preached in Saint Anne, Bourbonnais and Kankakee. Their mission was very successful and about 8o families withdrew from the schism.
Before their return at the end of 1858, Chiniquy had the audacity to have Father Brunet arrested because allegedly the latter had accused him of having the Bourbonnais church burned down in 1853. After a number of court sessions, Father Brunet was condemned to pay a large sum in compensation to Chiniquy on February 9, 1860 as well as paying the cost of the trial. He declared that was penniless and surrendered as a prisoner in Kankakee. He was imprisoned on May 13, 1861. A friend helped him escape on the following August 26.
Apostasy, last years
In 1858 Chiniquy left the Catholic Church and became a Presbyterian minister. He brought many of his parishioners with him. He wrote and preached against the Catholic Church and its teaching on the Sacraments in Canada and in the United States. He married in 1864. Having travelled far, published many works and preached against Rome in England, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, he returned to live the remainder of his life in Montreal where he died unrepentant on January 16, 1899.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
