Pierre de Lauzon (known as ''Gannenrontié'' among the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
Vienne
Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.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 ...
—September 5, 1742,
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 ...
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...
. Although sometimes mentioned as Jean, in his official acts he invariably signed Pierre. From 1732 to 1739 he was superior of all the Jesuit missions in Canada.
Background
Lauzon was the son of lawyer Pierre de Lauzon and his wife Marguerite Riot. After classical studies at the Jesuit college in
Poitiers
Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...
, he entered the novitiate with the Jesuits at
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
on November 26, 1703. He studied logic and physics in
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
, 1705 to 1707, and was a professor from 1707 to 1710. After a third year studying philosophy in Limoges, he taught rhetoric there until 1712. He then studied theology in Bordeaux, and, four years later, was ordained a priest.
In Canada
After ordination Lauzon was sent to Canada, in 1716. From 1716 to 1718 he was Father Pierre-Daniel Richer's assistant at the mission at Lorette. There he studied the
Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
and Iroquois languages. He did missionary duty at Sault St. Louis (Caughnawaga) from 1718 to 1731. He made his solemn profession of the four vows at Sault St. Louis on February 2, 1721. He was absent from Sault St. Louis only for the scholastic year 1721-22, when he replaced Father François Le Brun as instructor in the royal school of
hydrography
Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...
in the college at Quebec, as the exhausting labours of the mission had undermined his health.
The Caughnawaga Iroquois clamoured for his return, and on May 12, 1722 they formally petitioned Governor
Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil
Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (; c. 1643 – 10 October 1725) was a French military officer who served as Governor General of New France (now Canada and U.S. states of the Mississippi Valley) from 1703 to 1725, throughout Queen A ...
and Intendant Michel Bégon to that effect. There were other grievances mentioned in the petition as well. The Iroquois felt that the proposed reestablishment of a French garrison in the settlement was an insult to their loyalty and a danger to their wives and daughters.
Rigaud feared that the Indians would abandon their alliance with the French and perhaps even go over to the English. It was Lauzon who had earlier prevented two-thirds of the Indians from moving away and settling within easy reach of the English, and therefore Rigaud urged the superior to send him back. In 1722 Lauzon returned to Sault St. Louis.
As superior of the Jesuit missions
In 1723 he was named superior of the Caughnawaga mission, replacing
Julien Garnier
Julien Garnier (born at Connerré, France, 6 January 1642; d. in Quebec, 1730) was a French Jesuit missionary to Canada.
Life
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1660, and, in October, 1662, sailed for Canada, he taught at the Jesuit college while ...
. The ability he displayed in governing during the nine succeeding years determined the general,
Franz Retz
Franz Retz (sometimes ''Francis Retz'') (13 September 1673 - 19 November 1750) was a Bohemian Jesuit, elected fifteenth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, which he governed from 7 March 1730 to 19 November 1750.Jean-Baptiste Duparc.
During his term of office, which lasted seven years, he crossed over to France (1733) in quest of recruits. Among those whom he brought back with him was the saintly Father
Jean-Pierre Aulneau
Jean-Pierre Aulneau de la Touche (21 April 1705 – 8 June 1736) was a Jesuit missionary priest who was briefly active in New France and killed before he could take part in his first major assignment which was to be an expedition to the Mandan. He ...
, massacred in 1736 at the
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods (french: Lac des Bois, oj, Pikwedina Sagainan) is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over long and wide, containing more than 14,55 ...
Pierre-Herman Dosquet
Pierre-Herman Dosquet (4 March 1691 – 4 March 1777) was the fourth Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec, bishop of Quebec.
Life
Pierre-Herman Dosquet was born in Liège, Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the son of Laurent and Anne-Jeanne Goffar. His ...
of Quebec returned at the same time, bringing with him three Sulpicians. The party sailed aboard the warship ''Rubis'' on May 29 and reached Quebec on August 16, after a distressing voyage of eighty days. Terrific winds and pestilential disease marked the long journey, and twenty people died. Lauzon, besides ministering to the sick, as did the other priests on board, was appointed boatswain's mate, for all the passengers had to share in the work.
Return to Caughnawaga
In 1739 Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Pé succeeded him as superior of the Jesuit missions. In September, Lauzon resumed his missionary labours with the Caughnawaga Iroquois. There, he defended the Indians against charges in France of disloyalty and illicit trade with the English. In a 1741 report to
Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal
Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, marquis de Vaudreuil (22 November 1698 – 4 August 1778) was a Canadian-born colonial governor of French Canada in North America. He was governor of French Louisiana (1743–1753) and in 1755 beca ...
, governor of
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
, Lauzon recounted the services the Caughnawaga Iroquois had rendered France against other Indians and the English. He also rejected the accusations of engaging in trade that had been brought against the Jesuits at the mission. These accusations developed into the Tournois-Desauniers affair. The Jesuit Jean-Baptiste Tournois was accused of being in a business partnership with the Misses Desauniers and promoting their store among the Indians. On April 12, 1742, the minister,
Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas Jean-Frédéric or Jean-Frederic may refer to:
*Jean Frederic Bazille (1841–1870), French Impressionist painter
* Jean-Frédéric Chapuis (born 1989), French freestyle skier
* Jean Frédéric Auguste Delsarte (1903–1968), French mathematician
* ...
, ordered the store closed and directed Lauzon to take further steps to prevent the Iroquois from going over to the English.
Owing to failing strength Lauzon was recalled to Quebec in 1741, where he died the following year, after a short illness of two and a half days.
References
* J.S. Camille de Rochemonteix, ''Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVIIe siècle'', I, 211; II, 20, 21, 23, 52, 245, 256 (Vol. I is availabl here )