Charles François Bailly de Messein (4 November 1740 – 20 May 1794) was a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

active in the British

province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He is best known for his

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

activism during the American invasion of Quebec, when he was injured during the

Battle of Saint-Pierre The Battle of Saint-Pierre was a military confrontation on March 25, 1776, near the Quebec village of Saint-Pierre, south of Quebec City. This confrontation, which occurred during the Continental Army's siege of Quebec following its defeat at t ...

, and for publicly supporting a planned university that his bishop opposed.

Early career

Charles François Bailly de Messein was born in

Varennes Varennes-en-Argonne (, literally ''Varennes in Argonne'') or simply Varennes (German: Wöringen) is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 639. Geography Varennes-en-Ar ...

on November 11, 1740. His parents sent him to study at the College Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He was ordained to the priesthood at the

Quebec Seminary Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

on March 10, 1767. He was sent as a missionary to Nova Scotia from 1767 to 1771. On his return to Quebec in 1772, Bailly became professor of

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

at the Quebec Seminary, a post he held for four years. He was admitted as a member of the board of directors of the seminary in December 1774, the same year he wrote his paper ''Rhetorica in Seminario Quebecensi''.

American invasion

During American invasion of Quebec, Bailly travelled in the spring 1776 to the southern coast of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

, preaching fidelity to England to his compatriots. Wounded in the abdomen, he convalesced at the seminary, and then became parish priest in Point-aux-Trembles (now Neuville), near Quebec City, in September 1777. In 1778, Bailly became a tutor to the children of Guy Carleton, the governor of the province, and accompanied the family on a voyage to London. In June 1786, Carleton was elevated to the peerage as Baron Dorchester and succeeded in imposing Bailly's candidature as coadjutor to the bishop of Quebec. The bishop, Monseigneur

Jean-François Hubert Jean-François Hubert, (February 23, 1739 – October 17, 1797), bishop of Quebec, trained at the Sulpician seminary in Montreal. He was taken under the protection of Bishop Dubreil and served for a time as the bishop's secretary. Life Jean- ...

, did not agree with the governor's choice. Bailly had a letter published in the ''

Quebec Gazette The ''Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph'', founded by William Brown (c. 1737–1789) as the ''Quebec Gazette'' on 21 June 1764, is the oldest newspaper in North America. It is currently published as an English language weekly from its offices in Queb ...

'' on April 29, 1790 openly criticizing his superior. In October of the same year, he published a report in favour of the foundation of a secular coeducational university. Bishop Hubert had already publicly expressed his opposition to such a project, but Bailly responded with eloquence, saying "I believe Monseigneur Hubert is convinced of his inadequacy and of his too great sufficiency." From then on all communications between the two men ceased. Bailly's presence at the seminary became extremely rare and even the governor repudiated him. In April 1794, with his health failing, he was brought by launch to the Hôpital Général de Québec where he died on May 20, 1794.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailly de Messein, Charles Francois 1740 births 1794 deaths People from Varennes, Quebec 18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in New France French Canadians in the American Revolution Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada