Page 179 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

The Mirror's editorial comment on Fr. Holzer's letter puts the
emphasis squerely on the dificulty:
The tact is, am we have before ataled, we want, BI least, iwenty or thirty
more priests, but where ihey are to corne from we cmnot 1eU. His Lord-
sbip bai done and im doing ail in hi3 power to procure lhern, and we see
no remedy for tlie preaenl, but LO wsi~ until ihcy conie from SL. Michaei's
Coliege. 1
The uneertainty and weakness of Catholic Separate Schools in
Upper Canada at this time is underlined by de Cherbonnelys remarks in
a citcular letter of July, 1856:
Catholic Separaie School~ sre nent to inipossible in Upper Canada, siucc
tliere are none as yei in Hamiltan(7), London, St. Catherine's and Dundas.
And tliose of Brnntiord, Adjala and Guelph liave been conlested, and
thme oi Torouro and oiher places exist, but witli the grearesr difficuliy
srid ai tlie cost of greai sacrifices, and couscqnenlly Mined Schools
renuiin a irrord iirjantiride i~i pernuuierice for inost O[ nur deer Children,
and their Children's Clii:dren.tai
The hopes for benefits from the new dioceaes are well expressed
in the Mirror's editorial announeement of their establishment :
11 is wiih mucli pleasurp we announce that the Sovcreign Pontifi haa
acceded to ~he solicitations ol ihe Canadian Hiqrarchy and erccted two
new bislioprics in Upper Canada, tho~e of Landan and Haniilton. Ii ia
a special iavor granted by the See 01 Rornc. and one which. increahg
as it undoubtcdly will. ihr numbr.~ ol priests. ~hoole, and rrligious insti-
tulions in this coantry, siIl be producli~e 01 the nioet bcneficiel reaulta.
and cannol fail io caU lorih irom a pmple proverbially aiiached to the
Holy See thc slrongest expressione oi joy and nppmhaiion . . .(QI
The Diocese oi Hamilton, wiih its epiu:iipsl seat in the city of
Hamilton itself, was iormally established by a Papal Bull dated in
Ronie, Feb. 29, 1836. Its terrjtorjal ljmits comprieed ihe counties of
Brant, Bruce, Grey, Haldimand. Halton, Waterloo, Wellington and
Wentworth, Menitoulin Island, Sault Ste. hlnrje nnd the niia3ions of
Lake Snperior, to the Ijnijtp. of [lie Dioeeae of Bytown (Ottawa) and
ihe Dioeese oi St. Boniface in [lie Northwest territories.Ilb' Within this
area there was a Cathiilic population of spproximaiely 28,000, including
3,000 Indians in the northern missions. The major centres of popula-
tion were: Hamilton, with 15.500 persons, nf whom 4,000 were Catho-
Iic.9: Dundas, with 4,000, of whom 1,300 were Catholics; Brantford,
with 3,000, among them 750 Catholies; Gnelph, with about 650 Catho-
lies in a population oi 3,000; Galt, with about 200 Catholics in a popu-
lation of 2,000; Paris, with 1,800, of wbom 300 were Catholies; Preston,

'al The Mirror, Nov. 2, 1855.
'71 There were two Catliolic Separate Scliools in Hamilton at bis time; see
inlra, Note 12.
(61 "Circular 01 tlic Bishop 01 Toronto on the School Question", signed by de
Charbonncl, Visilalion Day, 1856, Toroirto Separale Schooi! Board Papers.
CI. Franklin A. Walkcr, Catholic Edrrcation and Polirit4 ui Upper Cm&,
pp. Ml-2; pnssini.
ifil Tht Mirror, May 2, 1856.
{loi Papal Bull, Farrell Pupers, Diorese O] Hantilton Archives.