François Le Mercier

François Joseph le Mercier (4 October 1604, 12 June 1690) was a prominent French Jesuit in the early missions to New France and the Huron people. Rector of the Jesuit college in Quebec and superior of the whole Canada mission from 1653-56 and again 1665-70 during which period he authored The Jesuit Relations as well as two published concerning his Huron mission's in the years 1637 and 1638.[1]

Early life

Joined the Society of Jesus at Paris on 19 October 1620 and completed fifteen years of study and teaching before being sent on a mission to Canada.

Mission To Canada

Le Mercier was sent as a Missionary to the French claimed territory of New France in North America, he arrived in Quebec on 20 July 1635 from which he travelled to the mission in Ihonatiria, a small town in Huron territory, at which he arrived on 13 August.[2] The settlement at Ihonatiria was ravaged by Smallpox which greatly reduced the population of the village so the Jesuit mission was abandoned in 1637 and relocated to the Huron capital Ossossané (now in Simcoe County, Ontario).

In 1639 a new mission which they called Sainte-Marie among the Hurons was built on the north-east corner of Wye Lake along a stretch of river known to the Jesuits as Iroquois River (now Wye River).[3] Le Mercier stayed here, except for a brief period of 1640 to 1642 where he returned to Ossossané, until the Jesuits were forced to burn down and abandon this building in 1649 due to increasing Iroquois attacks. Le Mercier and the Jesuits then set up a mission on St. Joseph's Island, now Christian Island (Ontario) which only lasted a year before they were forced to return to Quebec.[4]


Rector of the college and superior of the whole Canada mission 1653 - 1656, 1665-70

1659 to 1660, in charge of Quebec parish with Father Claude Dablon

21 October 1660 formally named assistant parish priest by Mgr de Petrée, the first Bishop of Quebec

12 July 1671 became bursar and vice-president (et primarius in convictu) of the Jesuit college at Quebec

Later life

Le Mercier was recalled to France in 1673 and made 'Visitor of the French missions in South America and in the Antilles'

He died on the island of Martinique, 12 June 1690.

Works


Legacy

The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century, by Francis Parkman is sourced largely from the Relations written by Le Mercier.

References

  1. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) "Volume 9, Article François Le Mercier", Catholic Encyclopedia
  2. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) "Volume 9, Article François Le Mercier", Catholic Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ Friends of Awenda Park "A Friends of Awenda Online Publication, History of the Park, The French Period", Awenda Provincial Park
  4. ↑ Sainte Marie Among the Hurons "Online Publication, The Sainte-Marie Story", Sainte-Marie among the Hurons


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