L’abbé Lionel Groulx et la crise sentinelliste

Prêtre, historien et intellectuel nationaliste, l’abbé Lionel Groulx (1878-1967) avait une vision de la nation canadienne-française qui débordait largement le cadre québécois. Son œuvre, tant polémique qu’historique, témoigne d’une volonté d’inclure les Franco-Américains dans sa conception de la nation et d’appuyer leur lutte pour la survivance. Cet article examine la réaction groulxiste face à la manifestation la plus radicale de la résistance franco-américaine à l’assimilation : la crise sentinelliste. L’étude de ce conflit révèle la structuration profonde de l’idéologie groulxiste : relations intimes de la langue et de la foi en même temps que subordination de la première à la seconde, la foi jouissant de la primauté intellectuelle. Pour l’abbé, la juste cause des sentinellistes n’excuse pas leur révolte contre leur évêque, mais, en Amérique, la langue française reste le bouclier de la foi. Ce dilemme le condamne au silence pendant la crise.Priest, historian, and nationalist intellectual, Lionel Groulx (1878-1967) felt that French Canada was a national entity that stretched far beyond the borders of the Province of Quebec. In his writings, Franco-Americans, French Canadians and Acadians were all considered members of the same nation. As such, he frequently voiced his support for Franco-American attempts to maintain their religion, language and culture within the American melting pot. This article examines Lionel Groulx's reaction to the most radical manifestation of Franco-American resistance to assimilation: the Sentinelle Affair. The study of this conflict reveals the profound structuring of Groulx's ideology: the intimate relationship between language and faith, but also the subordination of the former to the latter, Catholicism thus enjoying intellectual primacy over the French language. As such, the just cause of the Sentinellistes could not excuse their revolt against their bishop. However, on the American continent, the French language remained, in his mind, the most important element in the preservation of French Canadian Catholicism. This dilemma condemned Groulx to remain silent during the Sentinelle Affair