Stephen Doutreleau (born in France, 11 October 1693; date of death uncertain, after 1747, in France) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

who ministered to Native Americans and colonists in present-day

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

for 20 years.

Life

He became a Jesuit

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

at the age of twenty-two and migrated in 1727 to

, with a group of

Ursuline nuns The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of consecrated women that branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula, in 1572. Like the Angelines, they t ...

. Soon after his arrival, he was sent to the

mission. In 1728 he was recorded at Post Vincennes, "the fort on the Wabash"

iver Iver is a large civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park. Geography, transport and economy Part of the 43-square- ...

which was established about that time. On 1 January 1730, Doutreleau set out for

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

on business connected with the mission. In the previous two months, the Natchez Indians had

massacred A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

all the inhabitants of the small French village of

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

and the Yazoo, a neighboring Indian tribe, also attacked the French. Two Jesuit missionaries, fathers

Paul Du Poisson Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(resident priest of

Arkansas Post The Arkansas Post (french: Poste de Arkansea) (Spanish: ''Puesto de Arkansas''), formally the Arkansas Post National Memorial, was the first European settlement in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and present-day U.S. state of Arkansas. In 168 ...

who had been visiting Natchez)Rev. Donald A. Hawkins, S.J., "Pioneer Jesuits in the South: 1566-1763"
Jesuits of the New Orleans Province, accessed 3 May 2010 and Jean Rouel, were killed in these uprisings. Ignorant of the hostilities and accompanied by four or five French ''

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ' ...

'', Father Doutreleau landed at the mouth of the

Yazoo River The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before the ...

to offer up the

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 ...

. The Yazoo attacked the small party, killing one of the Frenchmen and wounding the missionary. Doutreleau escaped to his canoe with two of his companions; they fled down the Mississippi. When they reached the French camp at

Tunica Bay Tunica may refer to: * The Latin word for tunic, a type of clothing typical in the ancient world Biology * Tunica (biology), a layer, sheath or similar covering * "Tunica", an anatomical term for a membranous structure lining a cavity, or coverin ...

, their wounds were dressed. After a night's rest, they continued and made it to New Orleans without attacks. They had accomplished a journey of four hundred leagues through a hostile country. Shortly after, Father Doutreleau became

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of the French colonial troops in Louisiana. He accompanied them on one expedition. At his own request, he was sent back to the Illinois Indians, but how long he remained in the

Illinois Country The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...

is uncertain. At one time Doutreleau was chaplain of the hospital at New Orleans. In 1747 he returned to France, after twenty years as a missionary in the Mississippi Valley.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doutreleau, Stephen 1693 births 18th-century French Jesuits French Roman Catholic missionaries 18th-century French people Year of death unknown French military chaplains Jesuit missionaries in New France