Les échelles catholiques comme exemples de métissage religieux des ontologies chrétiennes et amérindiennes

Abstract

The discovery of a unique version of Lacombe’s Catholic Ladder annotated in the Innu language, and in use in the middle of the 20th century among the St Laurence North Shore Innus (who were known as Montagnais from the 17th to the 20th century), gives us opportunities to question again the production history of these illustrated catechism posters, which served as tools of conversion. After showing the connection between this “Catholic ladder” and aboriginal selective writing practices, we look at the rich history of the tradition from its emergence on the Pacific Coast to its spread throughout world Catholic missions from the middle of the 19th until the middle of the 20th century. We also present a commented translation of the Innu annotation of Lacombe’s Ladder and show that the origin of its success among Aboriginal peoples is that it transmits a Christian content using a symbolic method of spreading knowledge that is typically aboriginal. The Ladder is a product of religious “ métissage” (cultural mixing or cultural combination) between Catholic and aboriginal religions, and it is this “ métissage” that has led to its international success.