Missionaries as Explorers: The Récollets of New France
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article39372
- Author
- Jaenen, Cornelius J., 1927-
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society
- Date
- 1980 October
- Author
- Jaenen, Cornelius J., 1927-
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Date
- 1980 October
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- [2]
- Page
- 32-45
- Notes
- "Scholars are more familiar with the heroic efforts of the Jesuits, and even of the secular priests of St. Sulpice in Montreal or of the Seminary of Quebec, than with the Récollets of the religious provinces of Aquitaine, St. Denis and Brittany. Nevertheless, the Récollets, or Greyfriars, a reform group within the Observant branch of the Franciscan family introduced into France in 1592, played a significant role in the exploration of New France. They came to the colony in 1615, in the days of Champlain. .... They were forced to leave Canada following the Anglo-Huguenot conquest of 1629, and were not permitted to return to their mission field until 1670, shortly after Jean-Baptiste Colbert became minister of marine and colonial affairs" (p. 32). "I propose to sketch briefly, in the limited time available, the Récollet contributions to the extension of the frontiers of New France in the seventeenth century. The Récollets figured prominently in the opening up of two important communication links of the French colony. I refer, first of all, to what is commonly called the northern canoe route, the great communication route between the St. Lawrence towns of Quebec and Montreal and the 'pays d'en haut' (upper Canada) and the Far West. .... Secondly, I refer to the St. Lawrence river route to the Great Lakes and the links via the Mississippi system to what would later become Louisiana, and to the Upper Mississippi route to the Sioux country" (p. 34). "[Father Louis] Hennepin, because of his boastfulness and exaggeration, has not been taken as seriously as he deserves. His geographical and ethnographical descriptions are excellent, as Thwaites remarked three quarters of a century ago. Read today, in the context of seventeenth century travel literature and in the total documentation available on the expansion of New France into the Great Lakes and Illinois country, his work is a very useful primary source. Thus, in restoring to Brother [Gabriel] Sagard and Father Hennepin some of their rightfully deserved honour, we are in fact recognizing the importance of the Récollet missionaries in the exploration of New France" (p. 45).
- Subjects
- Franciscan Recollects - Missions - Canada - History
- Canada - History- To 1663 (New France)
- Missions - Canada - History
- Native peoples - Canada - Missions - History
- Catholic Church - Canada - History
- Sagard, Gabriel, ca. 1614-ca. 1636
- Hennepin, Louis, 1626-ca. 1705
- Location
- General Synod Archives