Religion: Coincidence?

The Catholic churches of Canada are proving suspiciously inflammable. In the last nine months the three oldest shrines in the ancient province of Quebec have been destroyed by fire—St. Anne de Beaupré noted for its miraculous cures; the Trappist monastery at Oka, and the Basilica at Quebec. The Basilica was built in 1647 and contained magnificent windows and irreplaceable historical documents. The loss was $1,000,000.

Sixteen large churches have burned, and smaller fires have been numerous. At first the blame was laid upon overheated furnaces or defective wiring. But, as fire after fire occurred and only Roman Catholic churches were destroyed, incendiarism was suspected. Staid insurance journals, never influenced by casual rumor, regard human agency as probable; fire insurance underwriters will insure Catholic churches only to a limited extent and at high rates.

If the object of the incendiaries is an attack upon the Church their methods are ingeniously calculated to defeat their own ends. Popular feeling both in America and in Canada is strongly in sympathy with the churchless Catholics.