ACADIAN-CAJUN-L Archives

From: "Margaret Hobler" <>
Subject: RE: Rev Charles Chiniquy -" Felaway with Chiniquy"
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 05:54:09 -0400
In-Reply-To: <7b.4f269a71.307ae530@aol.com>

Hi Fran,

As a child I often wondered why some of my French relatives were not
Catholic. I found out why!

In Spring 2004 I wrote an article for the French Canadian/Acadian
Genealogists of Wisconsin called "Felaway with Chiniquy". Some of it
follows:

Charles Chiniquy was the eldest son of Charles Chiniquy, notary. His
grandfather was et Chiniquia, born in Spain and married to a lady from
France. Rev. Chiniquy was born in Kamouraska in 1809, son of Charles and
Marie-Reine Perrault.

His mother taught him to read from a French and Latin Bible belonging to
his father. They spent time memorizing large sections of the Old and
new Testament. From his book ..."his parents used to put him on a large
table and he delivered parts of the Old and New Testaments"
to the neighbors.

In 1844 he published his Manual of Rules of the Society of Temperance;
it went through 3 editions in the next six years, and more than 200,000
persons enrolled in the society. The Bishop of Montreal named him "The
Apostle of Temperance" for all Canada. His book was translated in 1847
from French to English.

In 1846, he was involved in a scandal with a woman, and had to move away
from the diocese of Quebec. In 1850 he was invited to Chicago by the
Bishop to influence his countrymen to come to Illinois. There already
was a community of French-Canadians and the Bishop wished to cover
Illinois with the French.

Father Chiniquy came, was enthusiastic about the land, prepared a press
release to persuade Canadian, French and Belgian emigrants to go to
Illinois. And the people came... He was pastor at both Bourbonnais and
St. Anne in 1852. The church in Bourbonnais burned to the ground,
almost all Bourbonnais citizens believe Chiniquy set the fire as all the
chalices and other valuables had been transferred to the priest's
residence before the fire broke out.

He then disagreed with the church's authority and beliefs. He was
excommunicated in 1858. He was so popular that 4/5 of the congregation
joined him when he formed a new church called The Christian Catholic
Church. He started the first school in St. Anne, held year round.

He was defended by Abraham Lincoln in a slander suit, and was his
friend. He wrote at least four books, the one most widely read was FIFTY
YEARS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME and FORTY YEARS IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.

He was in demand as a lecturer on temperance, he toured England,
Scotland, Ireland and Canada for months at a time. He also spoke to
Protestants in San Francisco, Portland, Oregon and Washington areas.
Then he went to Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

In 1858 frosts in the winter and rain in the summer destroyed the crops
of his parishioners in Illinois, forcing them to mortgage their
property. With money he received from lecturing, Rev. Chiniquy was able
to pay all mortgages and purchase barrels of food and clothing.

He married and had children. He died 16 January 1899 in Montreal and is
buried there. Thousands of mourners attended the funeral.

In 1893 the Presbyterian College of Montreal conferred upon him the
Doctorate of theology Honoria Causa that allowed him to put the initials
D.D. after his name, and call himself D
Doctor.

I solved the mystery of why some of my relatives were Protestant.
Family church records have the notation "Felaway with Chiniquy".

Margaret LaGue-Hobler


-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 5:27 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Rev Charles Chiniquy


In a message dated 10/9/05 4:13:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:


> Rev. Charles Chiniquy was instrumental in bringing many of his
> countrymen; he was quite famous and was called the Apostle of
> Temperance. He also was a renegade priest who was excommunicated. He

> later went with the Presbyterian church.
>

Margarite there is an interesting story there, Can you tell us more
about
this fellow?
what caused his excommunication?

Fran Wilcox

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