Young American discovered an unexpected calling
Preacher aimed to show Catholics their errors, but became a priest himself
Montreal has seen more than its share of remarkable religious figures, not the least of whom was Father Jackson John Richards.
He was born into a pious Protestant family in Virginia in 1787 and from an early age was destined for the ministry. In 1807, young Richards came to Canada as a travelling Methodist preacher and made his way through Toronto to Montreal, where he arrived in August 1807.
The 20-year-old was nothing if not self-confident, and within days was knocking on the door of the Sulpician seminary, on Places d’Armes next to Notre-Dame Church. He had come, he explained to the astonished priests, to steer them away from their errant Catholic ways into the bright, true light of Protestantism.
Surprisingly, Jean-Henry-Auguste Roux, the Sulpicians’ superior, didn’t turn Richards away. Apparently seeing not a crackpot but a young man of high intelligence and undoubted religious purpose, Roux invited him in. Over the next few days, they debated the merits of their respective beliefs, with the result that it was Richards who was converted.
On the last day of October, he formally renounced his Protestant faith and became a Roman Catholic. More than that, he immediately began studying for the priesthood, and in 1813 was accepted as Father Richards. Four years later, he entered the Sulpician community.
In those days, there weren’t many non-French Catholics in Montreal. Mostly, this minority were recent immigrants from Ireland, and the French language was foreign to them. They longed for a priest they could understand.
Roux assigned their care to Richards, and for several years they worshipped in Notre-Damede-Bonsecours Chapel. The community continued to grow, and by 1831 was large enough that the more spacious Recollet Chapel on Notre Dame St. was handed over to them.
Along with these pastoral duties, Richards increasingly became one of Roux’s most trusted advisers. In 1826, he accompanied Roux on a two-year mission to England that sought to confirm the Sulpicians’ property rights; Richards acted as Roux’s interpreter. In 1833, he became the seminary’s bursar, responsible for its financial health. He even served briefly as curé of Notre Dame itself, notwithstanding his shaky command of French.
But his greatest concern was always Montreal’s Irish, a concern that was supremely tested in the dreadful spring and summer of 1847.
By then the growing stream of immigrants from Ireland had become a flood. Most were desperately poor, fleeing yet another failure of the potato crop and the starvation that followed. And many were ill, stricken by the deadly ship fever, or typhus.
In June alone, as many as 2,000 immigrants arrived in Montreal. Some were so weak they could not walk and were simply dumped ashore, where death soon ended their torment. Also dumped were those already dead. Those who could move were confined to so-called fever sheds in Point St. Charles, where conditions were appalling.
Father Richards was among those ministering to the sick as best they could. Fevered brows might be mopped and soiled bedding straw might occasionally be replaced, but all too often, the only help that could be offered was a kind word or a held hand.
Like Richards, most of those tending the sick were Catholic, Bishop Ignace Bourget among them. Bourget contracted the disease but survived; nine priests and 13 nuns did not. Nor did a number of non-Catholics including Rev. Mark Willoughby of Trinity Anglican Church and John Easton Mills, Montreal’s mayor.
On July 23, The Gazette reported that 1,626 people lay ill in the fever sheds, and that another 33 had died. One of them was Father Richards. He was buried at Notre Dame the following day.