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year or two cartier. We know that thc chureh had a bell. the bel! having been unearthed in 1870 near the known site of me ehurch.2 'I‘he date 1723 was inacribed on the beli, suggesting that me church had this bel! front about the time that the ehurch was established.

The register of Saint—Pierre-dwNord shows that until the beginning of 1732 Saint»Pierre-du-Nord only occasionally had a priest. The situation at Port—LaJoye from 1724 - i732 was not a great deal better. With the eollapse of the flshery initiative ot‘ the Comte de Saint—Pierre, [le Saintulcan becante less important in the cyes of ot‘ñcials in Louisbourg and Paris. and had already lost in 1723 the two resident priests who had been at PorbLaJoye sincc I721. From time to tune during the. 1724 — 1732 period, priests came to (le Saintvlean from Île Royale. Le. Cape Breton, or from Acadia, staying for seveml days. a few weeks, or perhaps two or thrce months.

In carly 1732 Father Mathieu François Le Pnige was installed as the resident parish pries! and hc remained here almost continnously for seven and one half ycars. Le Paige not only ministered to his flock at Saint-Pierrc-du—Nord, but also t0 pcoplc from outlying areas considered a part of thc parish, including Tracadie, liavre-aux-Sauvages, Malpec and Pointe- dc-I‘Est. In subsequent years, Baie—de- Fortune was added. Occasionally the pricst joumeyed to these places. The register provides us with the flrst known date when a priest ministered in the French settlement of Malpec, noted by Father Le Paige as being 15 leagues distant from Saint—Pierre-du-Nord. On May l, i735 at Malpec he married Marie Magdeleine Arsenault and Jean de Launay,

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andeaxiuotedtwobaptm .Thishadnot bemhisfitstvisittoMalpec.Hetmdbœn mercatleastonetimepriortoquanbcr 1734.

la i739 Le Paige was succeeded by Father Gabriel Le Moign who had already been at Port—Lajoye a couple of years and who remained at Saintvl’ietre» dit-Nord for (ive years. [t is cvident from a comparison of the registers for Port- LaJoye and Saint—Pierre-du—Nord that during the 1732 ' 1744 period, Saint— Pierre—dwNord enjoyed more stability in terms of priests than did Port-LaJoye. Togcther, Le Paige and Le Moign served 12 years continuously at Saint-Pierrodu- Nord, while during this period, no less than six different priests rotated through Port«LaJoye. Perhaps that was a reflection of a broader social stability at Saint-Pierre-du-Nord where fishing was thc major part of the economy, providing for trade and a small merchant class. Saint-Pierre-du—Nord always had a greater population than Port-LaJoye ——- indeed, much greater for much of the existence of these two settlements. Port- LaJoye was an administrative and military centre —— those on administrative postings came and went and the troops garrisoned at Port—LaJoye were rotated yearly. Whiie the important officials lived at Port-LaJoye, Saint-Pierre—du—Nord was the wealthier community.

During the time that Louisbourg was oceupied by the British from 1745 until 1749, one ñnds no entries in the register of Port-LaJoye. However, there are a few entries in the register of SaintcPierre—du- Nord. [n mid-August of 1745 Father Samucl Riou visited Saint-Pierre-du—Nord and perfonned a marriagc and a baptism. It is of some significance that hc signed

" “"iïiiiïôf Mäè‘i’uiiiiiñ’flï ÿÏiÏJyWËÎÜtËHc Church in Prince Edward Islandfrom I835 au I891 (Québec. I913). pp, 295-296: The chkly Examiner and Islam! Argus. Chariottetown. 23 November l883. p. l.