80 THEISLAND ACADIANS

Father Pichard resided in Rustico and took charge of the three Acadian missions of Malpeque, Rustico and Bay Fortune, while Father de Calonne, who spoke English, served the Catholics in Charlottetown'"*.

Father Pichard served only four years on the Island because he was transferred to Tracadie, Nova Scotia—evidently due to a disagree- ment he had with the people of Rustico'’. Father de Calonne took over in Rustico but his stay on the Island was cut short in 1804. Once again, the Acadians found themselves without a French-speaking priest. Father MacEachern remained the only Catholic missionary on the Island. This situation lasted until 1812 when Monseigneur Plessis brought with him on his pastoral visit a young twenty-five-year-old priest, Father Jean-Louis Beaubien, whom he posted in Rustico.

Father Beaubien’s stay on the Island came at the end of the great wave of migrations caused by the land question. The number of Acadian communities had thus multiplied which meant that the young missionary had to travel from one end of the Island to the other in order to meet with his congregation. In addition, he was also asked by his bishop to serve the Magdalen Islands and the Micmac on Lennox Island. Normally he would visit each mission on Prince Edward Island twice a year and spend several weeks in the summer on the Magdalen Islands'’*.

Father Beaubien returned to Quebec after six years. He was re- placed by the young abbé Joseph-Etienne Cécile who ministered to more than two thousand faithful until 1822. On the request of the bishop he took a census of his missions that were comprised mainly of Acadians, but also of Micmac, Scots and Irish!”. This Catholic population was distributed in the following way: Rustico: 608; Mis- couche: 202; la Roche (Egmont Bay and Mont Carmel): 312; Cascum- pec: 194; Tignish: 270; Rollo Bay: 228; Lennox Island: 186.

THE FIRST ACADIAN PRIEST

Shortly after his arrival on the Island, Father Cécile met a young Acadian from Tignish who was interested in the priesthood. The young man in question was Sylvain Poirier and was the first Acadian from the Island to become a priest. Father Cécile’s letter to Monseigneur Plessis gives a clear picture of the young man: