One beautiful August day in 2017, the Baha’is of Renfrew County went digging for our roots. Earlier this year, Baha’is across the Valley collaborated on a Canada 150 Tree Art project. Together we created a poster titled: Ye are all the leaves of one tree.”
In coming up with the design we started contemplating the roots of the Faith in the Valley. One of our members discovered the story of the first believer in the Ottawa Valley, Dr. James Ferguson Carmichael who came from Portage du Fort.
He received a law degree from Osgoode Hall, studied medicine at Queen’s University and later completed his medical training in the USA. He became a Baha’i in 1897 and received several tablets from Abdu’l-Baha, the son of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith. His remains are in Portage du Fort where he was buried in 1918.
When we went to the cemetery in Portage du Fort to offer prayers for him, after having determined that he was buried in the Anglican section, we could not find him. There was nothing resembling the marker that we had obtained from the Pontiac Archives. There was a grave with a toppled stone so, as an act of service, several friends figured out how to raise the granite rectangle pressed face down in the grass. To our surprise, we had discovered the gravestone of Dr. James Carmichael. We were so glad that we had left no stone unturned.
Baha’is and their friends in the Ottawa Valley and around the world are preparing for the bicentennial celebration of the birth of the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith, named Baha’u’llah (Glory of God), on October 22, 2017.
Condemned as a heretic, he revealed to the world modern, progressive social and spiritual principles that will ultimately lead to the unity of the world’s people, whether from the East or the West.
His message followed that of a personage named the Bab (Gate) whose mission was to bring freshness and purity to religions that had become corrupt. The Bab was martyred in 1850. His birth is celebrated on October 21, 2017, the day immediately preceding the celebration of the Birth of Baha’u’llah.
Since the beginning of the Baha’i Era with the Bab’s Declaration in 1844, the Baha’i Faith has spread around the globe with more than 7 million adherents who work with their fellow men on a path of service to humanity, promoting the organic unity of the human race. Baha’u’llah taught that only by establishing unity will peace be possible.
The Baha’i Teachings offer an important key to understanding the confusion and perplexities of our present age. Just as adolescence is a turbulent and rebellious time of life, humanity is currently passing through a painful, transitional age. This age of transition is marked by the passage from excessive nationalism and state sovereignty to a wider recognition of global interdependence, internationalism and world citizenship.
The offering of these teachings for the healing of the nations is one of the main reasons that Baha’is and their friends around the world will rejoice in the celebration of the Births of the Bab and Baha’u’llah on October 21 and 22 next.
Submitted by Andrea Graham
