Denis Jamet, O.M.R., (or ''Denis Jamay'') (died February 26, 1625 in

Montargis Montargis () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) was a French

Recollect The Recollects (french: Récollets) were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects took vows of poverty and devoted their lives to prayer, penance, and spirit ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

and

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

and the first superior of the Canadian mission (1615). Jamet, Provincial Superior of the Order in the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Saint-Denis in France, in 1615 was chosen by his superiors as Provincial Commissary and chief of the first band of Recollect friars, who were also the first missionaries of Canada. He sailed from

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...

on the ''St. Étienne'' on April 24, 1615 with three other Recollects, Father

Joseph Le Caron Joseph Le Caron, O.M.R., (c. 1586 near Paris – March 29, 1632 in Gisors, France) was one of the four pioneer missionaries of Canada, (together with Father Denis Jamet, Father Jean Dolbeau, and Brother Pacifique du Plessis, all Recollect fria ...

, Father

Jean Dolbeau Jean Dolbeau, O.M.R., (12 March 1586 – 9 June 1652) was a Recollect friar, one of the four Recollects who were the first Catholic missionaries to northern New France, present day Canada. Dolbeau-Mistassini in Quebec is named for him. Life Jean ...

and

laybrother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

Brother Pacifique Duplessis. They arrived at

Tadoussac Tadoussac () is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. The indigenous Innu call the place ''Totouskak'' (plural for ''totouswk'' or ''totochak'') meaning "bosom", probably in reference to the t ...

on May 25 and Jamet went immediately with

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...

to meet the Indians at Sault St. Louis. On June 24, 1615 at

Rivière des Prairies The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...

, he celebrated the first

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

said in Quebec. He sent back to France a relation dated July 15, 1615 (addressed to Cardinal

François de Joyeuse François de Joyeuse (24 June 1562 – 23 August 1615) was a French churchman and politician. Biography Born at Carcassonne, François de Joyeuse was the second son of Guillaume de Joyeuse and Marie Eléanor de Batarnay. As the younger son of a ...

). This relation included some description of the topography, climate, inhabitants, customs and religion of New France, as well as Jamet's views on the conditions necessary for the evangelization of the country. On July 20, 1616 Jamet left for France with Champlain and Father Le Caron to urge before the king and the Associates of Rouen the material and spiritual interests of the colony. During his four years in France, while still working on behalf of the Canadian missions, he also served as superior of the convents of Saint-Denis (1617), Châlons (1618), and Sézanne, which he founded in 1619. Again elected commissary provincial, he returned to Canada with Champlain and his wife, sailing on April 5, 1620 on the ''Sallemande''. On reaching Quebec he exhorted the colonists to obey the viceroy and his lieutenant, Champlain. He completed the first regular convent of the Recollects at Quebec, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, with the financial assistance of Charles de Boves,

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dépa ...

, Henry II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, and Sieur

Louis Houel Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

. He dedicated the convent on May 25, 1621. Jamet returned to France in the spring of 1622. He died at the friary of

, in

Orléanais The Duchy of Orléanais () is a former province of France, which was created during the Renaissance by merging four former counties and towns. However after the French Revolution, the province was dissolved in 1791 and succeeded by five ''départm ...

, on February 26, 1625.

Bibliography

* Samuel de Champlain, ''Les Œuvres de Champlain'', ed. by

Charles-Honoré Laverdière Charles-Honoré Cauchon ''dit'' Laverdière (23 October 1826 – 10 March 1873) was a French-Canadian priest and historian. Biography Laverdière was born in Château-Richer, East of Quebec City, on 23 October 1826. His parents, Charles Cauchon ...

(6 vols., Quebec, 1870) *

Gabriel Sagard Gabriel Sagard, O.M.R., ( ''fl.'' 1614–1636) was a French lay brother and Recollect friar, a reform branch of the Order of Friars Minor known for their strict poverty. He was among the first Christian missionaries to New France, and is not ...

, ''Histoire du Canada'', ed. Tross (4 vols., Paris, 1866) * ''Histoire chronol. de la province de St-Denis'' (Bibliothèque nationale, Paris)

External links

"Denis Jamet"
by Frédéric Gingras at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

by John J. O’Gorman, S.C.D., ''The Catholic World'', v. CII, March 1916. Contains additional information on the establishment of the mission ---- ''This article incorporates text from the 1913 ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' article
Denis Jamet
by Odoric-M. Jouve, a publication now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Jamet, Denis 1625 deaths French Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests Recollects Franciscan missionaries 16th-century French Roman Catholic priests Year of birth unknown Roman Catholic missionaries in New France French Franciscans