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sions was attended to as effectually as could ' be expected from such a small number of priests. Father Macdonald, who had charge of the western section of the Island, was in- defatigable in his ministrations to the people over the large and scattered territory as- signed to him. He purchased a parcel of land at Park Corner, where a small church was erected, which was used by the Cath- olics of that district, until a new and more central site was obtained, where now stands the church of Freetown. It was also found necessary to enlarge or rebuild, many of the churches in that section, in order to provide for the accommodation of the increasing number of worshippers. Thus a new church was built at Fifteen Point in 1827, the church at Egmont Bay was considerably en- larged, while the other churches were put in a condition more in keeping with their august purpose.

In the eastern section of the Island also, the growing settlements received all the at- tention that could possibly be bestowed upon them. It is true that the augmented duties of Bishop MacEachem rendered it very dif- ficult for him to be among the people of these missions as much as their spiritual wel- fare demanded. The duties of a bishop re- quired him to traverse the whole Island as well as the province of New Brunswick, Cape Breton and the Magdalen Islands, and the great wonder is that he could in any way attend to the several parishes in the eastern part of the Island where he served as a sim- ple missionary. It is indeed remarkable that, notwithstanding these multifarious duties, none of his parishioners died without hav- ing received the last sacraments of the Holy Church.

The settlement around St. Peter’s Bay began to grow in numbers, and it was

PAST AND PRESENT OF

deemed advisable to begin the construction of a church for the more immediate benefit of its people. Though this district had been settled for some time, the com- parative neamess of St. Margaret’s church did not render it so very necessary to have another church, but as time went on, the changed conditions of things called for action in this direction. Accordingly, in 1829, the settlement was organized into a separate mission and steps were forthwith. taken to build a church, which was partially completed in the following year, though ser- vice was not held in it for some time. This church continued to do service for the peo— ple of that mission until the present magnifi- cent structure was raised to take its place. The untiring efforts which for years had been put forth by Bishop MacEachem to educate a clergy for the Island missions were being slowly brought within reach of tangi- ble results, and the year 1828 saw another young Levite raised to the holy priesthood. This was the Reverend Silvain Perry, who was ordained in St. Andrew’s church. Shortly after his ordination he was given charge of the mission of Tignish, Cascum— pec, Mount Carmel and Egmont Bay. Th5 meant quite an addition to the missionary service of the Island, though it was very- far short of the number of labourers required in this part of the Lord’s vineyard. Father Bernard Macdonald, being relieved of those missions which were assigned to Father Perry, was able to give more attention to the English-speaking portion of the faith- ful. Father Fitzgerald had laboured about seven years in Charlottetown, where he ac- complished excellent results. After his de parture from the Island it was of course nec- essary that this important mission should be provided with a priest, and accordingly Fa-