The land no 26, from the land-book of the Lord, ... at the base of the village, on the west bank of the river...had been granted to Jean-Baptiste Boissel on 17 January 1746...
A wayside cross had been erected on the east side of this land; and since time immemorial, it extended its arms, as if to point out that as the first, it took possession of the region and that this entire domain would remain under its tutelage and protection...
In 1862 when Jean Laplante aka Besson was the owner of the land, the wayside cross had fallen and the owner appeared not to be concerned about reerecting it. One of its pieces was used to repair a defective bridge...
Everyone, and especially the residents of the lower river, were shocked at the disappearance of the cross. And among these Joseph Léveillé was the one most affected by this...Born in 1812, Joseph Léveillé had always seen the wayside cross. He mentioned this to the pastor Father Leblanc and asked him permission to renew the cross, but on his property.
Permission was granted on the spot. Seeing this, Jean Besson, filled with remorse, resolved to reerect the cross, and went to seek Father Leblanc's permission. The pastor mentioned that he had just given permission to Joseph Léveillé, but Jean Besson insisted on preserving this ancient privilege, which his property enjoyed since time immemorial. The good Father Leblanc, refusing nothing and wanting to appease both his parishioners but not being able to allow them to do the same thing, was obliged to satisfy both. He gave permission to Jean Besson to renew the cross on his property and consoled Joseph Léveillé by promising him something better yet.
A few weeks later, a boat brought a container with a statue of the Holy Virgin, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, which Father Leblanc had bought and paid with his own money; and he gave it to Joseph Léveillé on the coniditon that the latter would build on his property and on the side of the road, a niche to place within and protect the statue.
With joy, Joseph Léveillé accepted this beautiful gift from Father Leblanc and instructed his son Louis to built a niche.
The pastor announced the inauguration of the madonna and invited all the parishioners to attend. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in June, the statue was carried in procession from the church to the residence of the donor. The following were invited to carry the statue, encircled with flowers and banners: Louis Léveillé, Modest Raiche, Narcisse Parenteau and Prosper Bonin. The ceremy attracted all the local parishioners and also a great number of neighboring parishioners. There were prayers, hymns, a prediction and installation of "Notre-Dame-des-Campagnes", in the niche which we can still see today in the same location (2). Since this time, the return of each May sees, at the feet of the madonna, an assembly of the neighboring people who come to carry out the pious rituals of the month of Mary.
Finally, this last cross succumbed to the ravishes of time around the year 1900. It's a pity that, from a religious and historical point of view, that the pious tradition was discontinued and that we allowed to be forgotten, by the disappearance of this sign, the location where the first inhabitant of S.-Aimé settled, which will soon be two centuries old. (1) (3)
(1)Histoire de la Seigneurie Massue et de la Paroisse St-Aimé, Ovide-M. H.-LaPalice, 1930, p. 219-200.
(2) "These facts regarding the origin of Notre-Dame-Des-Campagnes were related to us faithfully by M. Aimé Léveillé, who is still enjoying old age (1928). He was a young man when he witnessed this grand feast which marked the inauguration of the Madonna, erected on his father's land. Joseph Léveillé's family has always maintained, with a religous respect and fine state of preservation, the neat niche of Notre-Dame-Des-Campagnes." Ibid., p. 200, footnote 5.
(3) Translated by Norm Léveillée, great-great-grandson of Joseph Léveillé, August 2000.
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