Becoming Holy in Early Canada.

Laverdure, Paul

Becoming Holy in Early Canada. Timothy G. Pearson. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014. xvii, 295 pp. $34.95 paper

In a slim but brilliant book, Timothy Pearson has delivered an impressive "performance" in joining deep scholarship, readability, and an interesting intellectual framework for viewing the religious history of New France. He argues that, "The study of lived holiness has much to tell us about life and community in early colonial Canada--about its social relations, and the strategies people deployed to confront colonial realities and create viable lives." "An examination of religious rituals of holiness as historical objects," Pearson believes, "might bridge the gap between history and anthropology and between social, religious, and cultural history; and in part a study of the social structures and relationships created in and around local performances of holiness." As well, Pearson explores "how the lives and acts of the holy entered into and became a part of the public life and culture of the colony, and the kinds of relationships the faithful and their saints built with each other and with the divine." (12-13)

The author's use of "performance theory" (associated with the anthropologists Victor Turner and Roy Rappaport) is part of the immense and growing ethnographic literature which informs folklore theorists. The performance of acts of what is considered holy is externalized in a community, validated by the community and internalized by the practitioner in unique, individual ways, yet is nonetheless identifiable as part of a corpus considered holy. Holiness serves to tie the community together in the common project which includes the performer, the witnesses, and the imitators. After introducing the literature around the cult of the saints and relating it to early Canada, Pearson looks at evangelical activity: martyrdom, indigenous holiness, charity, asceticism, miracles, and hagiography. His concise conclusion ties the many strands together and could stand alone for readers who lack the time to read the whole book.

Contrary to Allan Greer in Mohawk Saint, Pearson argues that the French in America had time to create strong local religious traditions. In addition to the Jesuit martyrs, Pearson considers Saints Catherine (Tekakwitha), Marguerite Bourgeoys, Marie de lTncarnation, and Francois de Laval, the blessed and servants of God, Jeanne Le Ber, Jeanne Manee, Marguerite d'Youville, Catherine de Saint-Augustin, Frere Didace, Jerome Le Royer de la Dauversiere, and Pierre-Joseph-Marie Caumonot. Particularly impressive are well-done thumbnail sketches of the many local and indigenous people who died with the reputation of holiness, but whose causes were not introduced. An appendix lists the "Holy Persons of New France." The discussion of what was considered holiness illustrates both the religion and society of the day (including gender roles). His analysis of how these individuals were remembered and venerated and of their virtues (a masculine concept), is subtle and convincing. The biography of Joseph Onahare and the religious relationships between natives and newcomers is an important contribution to the rapidly expanding field of Indigenous Studies.

My quibbles? Fortunately, flaws such as the misspelling of Andre Bessette as "Bassette," on the first page and typographical errors are few. More seriously, it is hard to read those dangerous words, "It is not difficult to imagine" (157) or "may have intended," "must have seemed," or "might provide," (all three on 172), "may have been" (179) and other conditional clauses introduced by "would," "should," or "could" as well as "perhaps" without choking on the subsequent unsubstantiated speculation which increasingly forms a staple in the recent religious historiography of English Canada. Is there not enough actual history to write without consciously crossing over into fiction? Imagination is spice in the historian's pantry and Pearson, fortunately, uses it sparingly and judiciously except where it overwhelms a few paragraphs in chapter 7 on hagiography. "It is not difficult to imagine" that the author "may have" hilariously linked fiction with hagiography.

Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this book. It is brief, readable, and a fascinating new view into the religious history of early Canada while providing the basic information about the religious and intellectual environment of the day.

Paul Laverdure

University of Sudbury