Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

Marie-Victorin, F.S.C. (April 3, 1885 – July 15, 1944), was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

member of

Brothers of the Christian Schools french: Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes , image = Signum Fidei.jpg , image_size = 175px , caption = , abbreviation = FSC , nickname = Lasallians , named_after = , formation ...

and a noted botanist in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. He is known as the father of the Botanical Garden of Montreal.

Biography

He was born Joseph-Louis-Conrad Kirouac to Cyrille Kirouac, a flower merchant, and Philomène Luneau in

Kingsey Falls, Quebec Kingsey Falls, Quebec is a town in Centre-du-Québec, Quebec, Canada, with a population of 1,946 at the 2016 census. It is 30 km east of Drummondville and west of Route 116. One of the largest employers in the community is Cascades, which ...

. Prior to taking religious vows and becoming Brother Marie-Victorin, he was known as Conrad. Although Brother Victorin is on record as having suggested that

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

build its own

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s as early as 1919,Le frère Marie-Victorin : l’âme du Jardin botanique
by Yves Gingras, in ''Quatre-Temps'', vol. 30, June 2006; pp. 16-19 the Garden was not authorized until 1929 when Montreal Mayor

Camillien Houde Camillien Houde (August 13, 1889 – September 11, 1958) was a Quebec politician, a Member of Parliament, and a four-time mayor of Montreal – one of the few Canadian politicians to have served at all three levels of government. Political c ...

approved it, with construction beginning in 1931. Subsequent administrations, both municipal and provincial, opposed the Garden as a

boondoggle A boondoggle is a project that is considered a waste of both time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy or political motivations. Etymology "Boondoggle" was the name of the newspaper of the Roosevelt Troop of the Boy Sco ...

; however, Brother Victorin continued to champion its cause, promoting it at every opportunity, leading specimen-collection expeditions, recruiting

Henry Teuscher Heinrich (Henry) Teuscher (May 8, 1891 in Berlin – August 9, 1984, in Toronto) was a landscape architect, horticulturalist and botanist best known for having designed the Jardin Botanique de Montreal. He was also its first curator. Professi ...

as its designer, and protecting it from being converted into a military flight school, even during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Brother Victorin is also known for his writings: his ''Flore laurentienne'' is a botanical record of all species indigenous to southern Quebec, and was the first such record to be compiled. He also wrote the preface to an historical biography of another fifth cousin, ''Zephirin Paquet. Sa famille, sa Vie, son Oeuvre. Essai de Monographie Familiale'', par frère Alcas. Brother Victorin died in Montreal in a car accident in July 1944, and he was entombed at the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (french: Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run a ...

in Montreal. A building at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

, where he had taught botany, was subsequently named for him.

Legacy

The Marie-Victorin rose, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was named in his honour. To honour the centennial of his birth in 1985, a park was established in his hometown of Kingsey Falls, named Parc Marie-Victorin. Originally 3 acres, it has expanded to nearly 30 acres, with volunteers and a small permanent staff. The park has been a leader in the province for horticultural development in the green movement. In the early 1990s, a private high school in Montréal was opened and named for him. The school is still open but its name was changed in 2006. Brother Victorin has been inducted as a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of FameThe Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame: The Hall
, Canada Science and Technology Museum. He is fictionalized as a central character in André Forcier's 2019 film ''

Forgotten Flowers ''Forgotten Flowers'' (french: Les fleurs oubliées) is a Canadian comedy film, directed by André Forcier and released in 2019. The film stars Roy Dupuis as Albert Payette, an agronomist who has lived in seclusion making mead since becoming di ...

(Les fleurs oubliées)'', in which he is portrayed by

Yves Jacques Yves Jacques OC (born 10 May 1956) is a Canadian film, television and stage actor.Yves Jacques ...

.Alex Rose
"Roy Dupuis pukes actual rainbows in André Forcier’s Les fleurs oubliées"
'' Cult MTL'', October 25, 2019.

Gallery

Image:Statue of Brother Marie-Victorin.JPG, The Brother Marie-Victorin Statue at the

Montreal Botanical Garden The Montreal Botanical Garden (french: link=no, Jardin botanique de Montréal) is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Quebec, Canada comprising of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008 ...

References

External links

Kirouac Family Association Inc. Bilingual Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirouac, Marie-Victorin 1885 births 1944 deaths People from Centre-du-Québec De La Salle Brothers Roman Catholic religious brothers Université de Montréal faculty 20th-century Canadian botanists Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Accidental deaths in Quebec Road incident deaths in Canada Burials in Quebec Canadian people of Breton descent Catholic clergy scientists Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery