The vigilant bishop had not yet entirely recovered from the fatigue of his journey when he decided, in spite of the infirmities which were beginning to overwhelm him, and which were to remain the constant companions of his latest years, to visit all the parishes and the religious communities of his immense diocese.  He had already traversed them in the winter time in his former pastoral visits, shod with snowshoes, braving the fogs, the snow and the bitterest weather.  In the suffocating heat of summer, travel in a bark canoe was scarcely less fatiguing to a man of almost sixty years, worn out by the hard ministry of a quarter of a century.  However, he decided on a summer journey, and set out on June 1st, 1681, accompanied by M. de Maizerets, one of his grand vicars.  He visited successively Lotbiniere, Batiscan, Champlain, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Trois Rivieres, Chambly, Sorel, St. Ours, Contrecoeur, Vercheres, Boucherville, Repentigny, Lachesnaie, and arrived on June 19th at Montreal.  The marks of respectful affection lavished upon him by the population compel him to receive continual visits; but he has come especially for his beloved religious communities, and he honours them all with his presence, the Seminary of St. Sulpice as well as the Congregation of Notre-Dame and the hospital.  These labours are not sufficient for his apostolic zeal; he betakes himself to the house of the Jesuit Fathers at Laprairie, then to their Indian Mission at the Sault St. Louis, finally to the parish of St. Francois de Sales, in the Ile Jesus.  Descending the St. Lawrence River, he sojourns successively at Longueuil, at Varennes, at Lavaltrie, at Nicolet, at Becancourt, at Gentilly, at Ste. Anne de la Perade, at Deschambault.  He returns to Quebec; his devoted fellow-workers in the seminary urge him to rest, but he will think of rest only when his mission is fully ended.  He sets out again, and Ile aux Oies, Cap-Saint-Ignace, St. Thomas, St. Michel, Beaumont, St. Joseph de Levis have in turn the happiness of receiving their pastor.  The undertaking was too great for the bishop’s strength, and he suffered the results which could not but follow upon such a strain.  The registers of the Sovereign Council prove to us that only a week after his return he had to take to his bed, and for two months could not occupy his seat among the other councillors.  “His Lordship fell ill of a dangerous malady,” says a memoir of that time.  “For the space of a fortnight his death was expected, but God granted us the favour of bringing him to convalescence, and eventually to his former health.”

M. de la Barre, on his arrival, desired to inform himself exactly of the condition of the colony.  In a great assembly held at Quebec, on October 10th, 1682, he gathered all the men who occupied positions of consideration in the colony.  Besides the governor, the bishop and the commissioner, there were noticed among others M. Dollier de Casson, the superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal, several Jesuit