Under the French Regime 47

In 1753, for example, the Intendant Prévost asked the Minister of Colonies to help the settlers furnish their churches and to send them four bells’?. A memorandum presented to the King’s Court pointed out that three churches on the Island lacked articles of worship includ- ing “a chalice, a vestment of each colour, a missal, an Antiphonal and Gradual, an altar chart, an alb, a cincture, a surplice, an altar stone, a ciborium and a box for the holy oils” (TR)®*°.

The expulsion of the settlers from the Island, after the fall of Louisbourg, put an end to the development of the new parishes. Their growth, already precarious during the years that preceded the “great upheaval”, was to be of short duration. Consequently, it is difficult to measure with certainty the role of the Church and the importance of religion for Acadians on the Island under the French regime. There were many factors that made parish life very difficult to organize: the colony was isolated from the religious structures of New France, the settlers were scattered throughout the Island, the influx of refugees took place suddenly and the overall state of the economy was poor.