Founder in Ontario:
George Manly Muir
(1807-1882)
The
year that Dr. Painchaud left
Canada
for
France
and his destiny in
Mexico
, a young lawyer,
named George Manly Muir, joined the newly-founded Conference
of Notre Dame in
Montreal
.
He was a native of
Ontario
, having been born in
Amherstburg in 1807.
His
father was a Scottish soldier, Colonel of an Infantry Regiment
stationed in
Ontario
.
His mother was a Catholic who was both pious and
tenacious. In
spite of the father's strong Presbyterian faith, George was
brought up a Catholic. An
early infirmity, as in the case of Dr. Painchaud, left him
with a limp for the rest of his life.
His father, seeing he could not hope to make a soldier
of him, left his education to the mother, who sent him to the
Sulpician
College
, in
Montreal
.
After
completion of his classical studies with the Sulpcians, he
began the study of law and, in 1831, became a civil servant,
finally becoming registrar or clerk of the legislative
assembly of
Canada
, which, at that
time, sat in turn in
Quebec
,
Montreal
,
Kingston
and
Toronto
.
In
1833, he married
Sophie Place
, who belonged to an
English family of
Quebec City
.
Like Mr. Muir, she also had a Protestant father and a
Catholic mother and, like him, she had been brought up as a
Catholic by a devout mother.
They had one daughter who died in infancy.
They had no other children and they interpreted this as
a sign that God was calling them to other forms of service in
the Church.
He
became a member of the Society in 1848 in
Montreal
, the year the first
Conference was founded there, through the inspiration of
Bishop Bourget. The
Bishop had heard about the Society on a visit to
Paris
and brought back
with him a copy of the Rule and Manual of the Society.
In 1849, when Mr. Muir's work brought him to
Quebec
, he requested
admittance to the Quebec Conference and was unanimously
admitted.
A
year later, his employment took him to
Toronto
, and he was asked by
the Quebec Council to try and found a Conference in
Toronto
.
Having arrived in
Toronto
, Mr. Muir attended
daily Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral and noticed several
other men who also attended Mass and received holy communion
daily. One by
one, he approached them and they agreed to meet to discuss the
founding of a Conference.
As a result, the first Ontario Conference (the
Conference of Charity of Our Lady of Toronto), was founded at
St. Michael's Cathedral in
Toronto
, on
November 11, 1850
.
Mr. Muir was soon transferred back to
Quebec
, where he remained
until his death, eventually becoming President of the National
Council.
"
Flying squad seminars compiled and adapted by Michael
Burns"
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