Laverlochere, Jean-Nicolas

Jean-Nicolas Laverlochère

Missionary, born at St. Georges d'Espérance, Grenoble, France, 6 December, 1812; died at Temiscaming, Canada, 4 October, 1884. He began his religious life as a lay brother in the Congregation of the Oblates, but feeling called to evangelize the natives of Canada, he was allowed to study for the priesthood, and was ordained 5 May, 1844, at L'Acadie, near Montreal. He was sent in succession to Abittibbi, Moose Factory, and other posts on Hudson Bay, where he laboured for the conversion of the native tribes. Alone, or in collaboration with others, he published a number of devotional books in Indian. His letters in the "Annales de la Propagation de la Foi" attracted wide attention, and his reputation as a zealous missionary spread throughout Catholic Europe to such an extent that he was ultimately recognized as the Apostle of Hudson Bay. A stroke of palsy interrupted his labours in the course of 1851.

A.G. MORICE