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pidity the priests of St. Sulpice, pastors of tlie city,
devoted themselvet} to the spiritual relief of the sick
and dying, and five at the outset fell victims to their
zeal. Fathers Paul Mignard and Henri du Banquet,
arriving from New York gave timely assistance. But
this was far from sufficient, so Fr. Martin appealed to
Fr. Th^baud, rector of St. John's, Fordham, for volun-
teers to assist the plague-stricken. The answer was
the immediate arrival of Fathers Driscoll, Dumerle,
Ferard and Schianski. All escaped the contagion ex-
cept Fr. Dumerle, who fell a martyr of charity.
The priests of St. Sulpice, whose ranks were thinned by the ravages of the plague, asked for four Eng- lish-speaking Fathers to take charge of St. Patrick's Church. A presbytery was provided for them near the very ground whereon the college had been com- menced. In it there was room sufficient to house a few teachers. A temporary structure was put up, and opened as a college on 20 September, 1848. A few boarders even were received and lodged in a small tenement in a street hard by. It was not till the month of May, 1850, that work was resumed on the college building, but so strenuously was it prosecuted that Mgr Bourget was invited to bless it, in it« ad- vanced stage of completion, on 31 July, 1831, feast of St. Ignatius. On 4 August the novitiate was transferred from its temporary quarters in M. Rodier's house, and installed in the new edifice, and in the be- ginning of September everything was in perfect work- ing order in the young institution of learning, from under whose roof, in later years, so many remarkable men were to go forth as statesmen, judges, physi- cians and members of the clergy and of the bar. 'This was Fr. Martin's achievement. But he was not only the founder of St. Mary's College, the financier, the architect, and the overseer of the material construc- tion, he was also the systematizer of its curriculum during his rectorship which lasted until 1857. The stately pile of St. Patrick's Church, Montreal, was also of his designing, the main outUnes of which are in pure thirteenth-century Gothic. Fr. Martin was the orig- inator of the well-known Archives of St. Mary's Col- lege, and the principal collector of the priceless his- torical treasures they contain. He awakened in his contemporaries a keen interest in the records of an al- most forgotten past. With such men as Vigor, Fari- bault, £. B. O Callaghan, etc., he quickened, if he really did not set on foot, that campaign of research which ended in the placing within reach of all the original historical sources of the colonial and mission- ary days of New France.
No better account of Fr. Martin's labours in this field could be given than that which appeared a few months after his death in the " Catholic World " (N. Y., April, 1887): "But, it is, perhaps, as an antiqua- rian and a man of letters that Fr. iVIartin has become most generally known. His services to historical literature, particularly the history of Canada, have been many and great. He devoted himself amidst all his onerous duties to the task of throwing Ught on the dark places of the past. He was commissioned by Government to explore the regions where of old the Jesuits had toiled amongst the Hurons, giving at last to the dusky tribes the priceless gifts of faith. He wrote at this time a work embellished with various plans and drawings, all of which remained in posses- sion of the Government. He also collected many curious Indian relics. In 1857 he was sent by the Canadian Government to Europe on a scientific mis- sion, and was likewise entrusted with the task of ex- amining the Archives of Rome and of Paris for points of interest in relation to Canadian history. In this he was eminently successful. He discovered a numJber of unpublished documents relating to Canada which would be sufficient to fill a foUo volume. Periiaps his mo9t eminent service to historical literature was his great share in bringing out the 'Relations des J6-
buites * [1611-16721, a very mine of infonnatiou for
the scholar. . . . He discovered and put into print,
with preface and most valuable annotations by him-
self, the * Relations', extending from 1672 to 1679.
He added to them two geographical charts. . . . Fr.
Martin also translated from Italian to French the
'Relation' of Pdre Bressani, which he published with
notes, together with a biography of that ^orious
martyr. His historical works mcluded Lives of
Samuel de Champlain (?), the founder of Quebec,
of Fathers Br^beuf, Chaumonot and Jogues [and, not
mentioned in the article, of Montcalm]. Tiie latter
[that of Fr. Jogues] has become known to the Ameri-
can pubUc through the translation made by our fore-
most CathoUc historian, John Gilmary Shea. Fr.
Martin was the friend, adviser, and co-labourer of the
eminent Canadian historical writer, J. Viger. " And
letters preser\'ed in the College archives attest that
his relations with E. B. O'Callaghan, compiler of the
"Documentary History of New York ", were of a
kindred nature.
Among his lesser pubUcations may be mention(Kl: " Notice Biographique de la M6re S. Stanislas [his sis- ter] Religieuse cle la Misericorde de Jesus, de la Hotel- Dieu d'Auray, 1886", " Manuel du Pelerin k N. D. de Bonsecours", Neuvaine k St Francois Xavier" and " Neuvaine k St. Antoine de Padoue". After his re- turn from Europe, in 1858 and 1859, he was bursar of St. Mary's College, and the two following years^ 1860 and 1861, superior of the Quebec residence. His eye- sight Was already much impaired, and the glare of the Canadian snows was very trying, so much so that he was threatened with total bhndness. For this reason he was recalled to France. He spent part of the year 1862 at St© Genevidve College, Paris, and was ap- pointed on the 12 September (1862) rector of the col- lege of Vannes.
After three years, on 8 Sept., 1865, he was named superior of the residence of the Holy Name at Poitiers. Thence he was transferred to Vaugirard College at Paris, where he had the spiritual direction of the house for six years. On 5 Sept., 1874, he went to Rouen for three years as superior, and returned to Vaugirard in 1878. At the closing of the Jesuit colleges by the arbi- trary enactments of the French Republic, the commu- nity of Vaugirard was dispersed, and Fr. Martin, with a few others of his fellow reUgious took up their abode in 1882 at No. 1 Rue Desnouettes. Here he remaine^^ for five years patiently awaiting the final call of the blaster, though never ceasing to collect materials bear- ing on the history of the country of his predilection. Physically, Fr. Martin was of medium height, heavily built, but carrying his weiglit lightly and with dignity. His name is a household won! for all who are given to historical research not only in Canada of toKlay but throughout the vast territory comprised within the vaguely defined limits of New France.
Thwaites, Jesuit Relatitms and Allied Documents, LXXIII, 133; Cath. World, Now York, April, 1887, 107; [Vignon?], Ls Pcre Martin (brochure); [De BompartT], V Enseigntment des Jesuites au Canada in the Revue Canadienne (Oct., 1891); Tanouat, R^ertoire Oin. du Clerg^ Canadien; Martin, Notice Biographtque de la Mtre S. Stanislas (Paris, 1886).
Abthur Edward Jones.
Martiii, Gregory, translator of the Douai Version of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate; b. in Maxfield, parish of G nestling, near Winchelsea, in Sussex; d. at Reims, 28 October, 1 582 . In preparing the translation he was assisted by several of the other great scholars then Living in the English College at Douai, but Gregory Martin made the whole translation in the first instance and bore the brunt of the work throughout. He was well aualified for the undertaking. During his thirteen vears residence at Oxford^ he bore the reputation of a orilliant scholar and lingiust, whose abilities were only equalled by hifl industry, ue entered as one of the onginal scholars of St. John's College, in 1557. Among
