François-Saturnin Lascaris d'Urfé, S.S. (1641 – June 30, 1701) was a French nobleman and Sulpician priest who became the first resident

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Saint-Louis-du-Haut-de-l'Île (in what is now the town of

Baie-D'Urfé Baie-D'Urfé (, ; previously spelled Baie d'Urfé or Baie d'Urfee) is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is part of the West Island area of the Island of Montreal. As part of the 2002–2006 municipal reorganiz ...

) on the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (, ) is an island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, which is the site of a number of municipalities, including most of the city of Montreal, and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main island of the Hochelag ...

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, 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 Kingdom of Great Br ...

Life and career

Born into a prominent family of the

French nobility The French nobility () was an Aristocracy, aristocratic social class in France from the France in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages until its abolition on 23 June 1790 during the French Revolution. From 1808 to 1815 during the First French Empire, ...

, Lascaris d'Urfé held the title of Marquis de Baugé and was the brother of , who served from 1676 to 1695 as Bishop of Limoges. In 1660, Lascaris d'Urfé was admitted to the seminary of Saint-Sulpice in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and was ordained in 1665. He was sent as a missionary to New France in 1668.Yon, Armand
Lascaris D’Urfé, François-Saturnin
''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. In 1669, he accompanied his cousin, François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, to the Iroquois mission at Kenté, on Lake Ontario. In 1672, Fénelon was to establish an Algonquin mission on the outskirts of Ville-Marie at a place called Gentilly. Lascaris d'Urfé replaced his cousin there in 1674. His support for Fénelon gave rise to his own problems with Governor Frontenac. Lascaris d'Urfé accompanied Fénelon back to France, where he wrote to Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert (whose daughter-in-law was Lascaris d'Urfé's first cousin) of his mail being opened and other slights. Lascaris d'Urfé returned to Quebec in 1686, and soon after re-joined the Sulpicians at Montreal. He then founded the mission of Saint-Louis-du-Haut-de-l'Île in the west end of Montreal Island at Pointe-Caron (site of the present-day Baie-D'Urfé Yacht Club). It was a small community of settlers, soldiers, traders, and Indians. At that time, the mission included the entire area from the tip of Montreal Island to Pointe-Claire, Île Perrot, Soulanges, Vaudreuil, and Île aux Tourtes."History", City of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue
/ref> The mission was attacked by the Iroquois in 1687. The town of

is named after Abbé d'Urfé.Town of Baie-D'Urfé
/ref> After serving in Canada for nineteen years, Lascaris d'Urfé returned to France in 1687 to deal with family matters. He was subsequently appointed as Dean of Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Puy-en-Velay. In addition, he served as '' Abbé'' of

Uzerche Uzerche (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Corrèze Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region of central France. In 1787, the English writer Arthur Young described the town as "the pearl of ...

from 1695 to 1701. Lascaris d'Urfé died in 1701 at his château of Baugé.

References

* ''Répertoire général du clergé canadien, par ordre chronologique depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours'', par Mgr Cyprien Tanguay, Montréal: Eusèbe Senécal & fils, imprimeurs-éditeurs, 1893. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lascaris Durfe, Francois-Saturnin 1641 births 1701 deaths Clergy from Paris Roman Catholic priests in New France 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests Sulpicians