Jean-Baptiste de La Brosse
Encyclopedia
Jean-Baptiste de La Brosse (April 30, 1724 – April 11, 1782) was a well educated priest from the Charente
département in central France
. His Jesuit training included a third year of philosophy and four years of theology. He was ordained a priest in 1753 and came to Canada the following year.
His missionary work began almost immediately in Acadia where he worked with the displaced natives of the region. The Abenakis, Maliseet, and Acadians were being hunted by the British and he encouraged them to flee. He was considered the “missionary to the Abenakis” and in 1760 completed a basic dictionary of the Abenaki language.
His greatest missionary work took place with the Innu
people who were speakers of the Montagnais language. These people were located in modern day Labrador
and Quebec
. He worked tirelessly with them; teaching them to read and write and attempting to protect them from the alcohol promoted by the traders of the region.
An examination of his work in Canada reveals his ability as a scholar and professor. He did extensive work in producing dictionaries, grammars and spellers for the native languages of his people. He built on work done by his colleagues and furthered their studies.
La Brosse became a man of legends surrounding the deep respect held by many for his various talents. His death at Tadoussac, Quebec
was even accompanied by a story of his predicting the exact time of his own death.
Charente
Charente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited.-History:Charente is one of the original...
département in central France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. His Jesuit training included a third year of philosophy and four years of theology. He was ordained a priest in 1753 and came to Canada the following year.
His missionary work began almost immediately in Acadia where he worked with the displaced natives of the region. The Abenakis, Maliseet, and Acadians were being hunted by the British and he encouraged them to flee. He was considered the “missionary to the Abenakis” and in 1760 completed a basic dictionary of the Abenaki language.
His greatest missionary work took place with the Innu
Innu
The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan , which comprises most of the northeastern portions of the provinces of Quebec and some western portions of Labrador...
people who were speakers of the Montagnais language. These people were located in modern day Labrador
Labrador
Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. He worked tirelessly with them; teaching them to read and write and attempting to protect them from the alcohol promoted by the traders of the region.
An examination of his work in Canada reveals his ability as a scholar and professor. He did extensive work in producing dictionaries, grammars and spellers for the native languages of his people. He built on work done by his colleagues and furthered their studies.
La Brosse became a man of legends surrounding the deep respect held by many for his various talents. His death at Tadoussac, Quebec
Tadoussac, Quebec
Tadoussac is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Saguenay rivers. It was France's first trading post on the mainland of New France and an important trading post in the seventeenth century, making it the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in...
was even accompanied by a story of his predicting the exact time of his own death.