Date Published:

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Pierre Joseph Marie Chaumonot

Chaumonot, Pierre Joseph Marie (1611-1693), Jesuit missionary, was born on March 9, 1611, in a village in Burgundy, France. He entered the Company of Jesus in 1632, and was ordained a priest in 1637. He was sent to Canada in 1639, and spent nearly ten years in the Huron missions. He escaped martyrdom, and accompanied the Hurons, first to the Christian islands, and then to Quebec. Under him, the refugees settled on the island of Orléans ; and he had oversight of this mission for thirty-five years, except for short absences. In 1692 his advanced age compelled him to retire to Quebec ; and there he died on February 21, 1693. In 1688 he wrote his autobiography, which has been preserved; and his Huron grammar has been translated into English, and published in the Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec for 1831.

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 41.