Louis Babel (23 June 1826 – 1 March 1912) was an

Oblate In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service. Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally livi ...

priest who might be considered multi-faceted in his career. He was born in

Veyrier Veyrier is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Geography Veyrier has an area, , of . Of this area, or 33.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 13.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 50.6% is settled (build ...

, Switzerland and received his formal training in Europe before coming to Canada in 1851. He was ordained in

Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a Grou ...

upon his arrival by Bishop

Joseph-Bruno Guigues Joseph-Bruno Guigues, (26 August 1805 – 8 February 1874), was an Oblate priest, a teacher and became the first bishop of the diocese of Bytown (Ottawa) serving from (1847–1874). His consecration service in 1848 was performed by Rémi Ga ...

. His first assignment was as a missionary among the Montagnais (

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

) in the Saguenay region of

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. He moved from Grande-Baie to Les Escoumins where he began working with Father Charles Arnaud. He and Arnaud would be together for almost 60 years. Looking back at his long career, Babel is remembered for his dedication and self-sacrifice as a missionary. He had a deep concern for the welfare of the natives and carrying out the difficult tasks assigned to him. Both Father Babel and Father Arnaud were great observers of their environment and the Indian tribes they served. While Father Arnaud attended his mission along the Lower North Shore, Father Babel led many missionary expeditions to the interior Labrador Plateau. An observation while at Lake Winokapau in 1866, he noted in his diaries a great showing of minerals. Again on a later mission to the Menihek River area more description on the showing of abundance of iron ore. Many of these notations were used by Quebec Crown Lands to compile base maps, and in 1892 a geologist by the name of

Albert Peter Low Albert Peter Low (May 24, 1861 – October 9, 1942) was a Canadian geologist, explorer and athlete. His explorations of 1893–1895 were important in declaring Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, and eventually defining the border between Quebec ...

, working for the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...

, revealed for the first time the vast iron ore deposits and eventually the developments by the

Iron Ore Company of Canada Iron Ore Company of Canada (often abbreviated to IOC) (french: Compagnie Minière IOC) is a Canadian-based producer of iron ore. The company was founded in 1949 from a partnership of Canadian and American M.A. Hanna Company. It is now owned by a ...

Schefferville Schefferville is a town in the Canadian province of Quebec. Schefferville is in the heart of the Naskapi and Innu territory in northern Quebec, less than 2 km (1¼ miles) from the border with Labrador on the north shore of Knob Lake. It i ...

and

Labrador City Labrador City is a town in western Labrador (part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador), near the Quebec border. With a population of 7,412 as of 2021, it is the second-largest population centre in Labrador, behind Happy Valley-Go ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babel, Louis Roman Catholic missionaries in Canada 19th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests 1826 births 1912 deaths Swiss Roman Catholic missionaries Swiss expatriates in Canada

Further reading

References