(Excerpt from Lettres Curieuses sur l'Amérique Septentrion...)
Excerpt from Lettres Curieuses sur l'Amérique Septentrionale: Canada François I ouvrit alors les yeux et pensa sérieusement à se mettre en équilibre de puissance avec les princes ses rivaux. Le marquis de La Roque est nommé lieutenant général pour le roi au Canada; Jacques Car tier l'accompagne dans l'expédition de 1 541 et en 1542 ils s'établissent à la Nouvelle Orléans. En 1598, ils abordent les côtes de l'acadie, et y amènent des missionnaires jésuites, pour porter à ces peuples le flam beau de l'évangile. En 1 603, Samuel Cham plain, homme de qualité et digne de la con fiance de son maitre est nommé par Henri IV, successeur de La Roque; il re monte bien avant le fleuve Saint - Laurent. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Pierre-Gabriel Marest was a native of Laval, where he was baptized in the old Gothic cathedral, seat of the bishop's see. The family was a religious one and two sons entered the Jesuit order, Gabriel and Joseph, both to become missionaries in Canada.
Gabriel entered his novitiate October 1, 1681, at Paris, studied there and at Bourges, was instructor at Vannes, and in 1694, then thirty-two years old, was ordered to New France.
When he arrived at Quebec, Iberville was just setting out on a buccaneering expedition to Hudson Bay and Marest was detailed as chaplain for the expedition, because, as he wrote, he knew no Indian language and could be better employed ministering to Canadians than to aborigines. Marest has given a thrilling account of his experiences in Hudson Bay, of the cold and storms, of the attack on the English fort and its surrender, of the Indians who visited the post, of the death in his arms of the commander's young brother Chateauguay, and of the final departure of Iberville's fleet in September 1695, leaving Marest to minister to the men of the French garrison. Not long after the vessels had gone, an English fleet swooped down on the post and carried the captured garrison off to England. There Marest experienced prison fare, but was shortly permitted to return to France, whence at the earliest opportunity he again set sail for Canada. In 1698 he embarked on another long journey, this time to the interior of America, where Father Jacques Gravier needed reinforcement in the Illinois mission. Marest ministered to the Kaskaskia branch of the Illinois tribe, at first located on the upper Illinois River near the present Ottawa. In 1700 the Kaskaskia determined to remove to the Mississippi, having heard that a French colony had been founded near the mouth of that great river. Marest, learning that his old leader Iberville was the founder of the colony, did not discourage his neophytes' removal. They spent the first years on the west side of the stream at the Rivière des Pères, now a part of the city of St. Louis, then, in April 1703, they crossed to the east side and formed a village on a river called for them the Kaskaskia. At this mission Marest passed the remainder of his life, except for a journey to Mackinac to consult with his Jesuit brother Joseph, whom he opportunely met en route at the St. Joseph mission. On his return he promised the Peoria to continue their mission; but his Kaskaskia converts and his colleagues would not consent to his removal. His mission was one of the most successful in North America; in 1707 he estimated that all the Kaskaskia, numbering over two thousand, were Christians. He was buried in the chapel of his mission of the Immaculate Conception; but on December 18, 1727, his remains were removed to the new church just finished at Kaskaskia.
Pierre-Gabriel Marest served as chaplain for the expedition led by Iberville that year, keeping a journal for the entire period. He remained as chaplain at Fort Bourbon until 1696, when he was captured by the English. He subsequently was sent to the Illinois confederacy in 1698, which he evangelized until his death. His many writings are his monument. His scholarship earned praise from his fellow workers who also attested to his unselfish devotion.
(Excerpt from Lettres Curieuses sur l'Amérique Septentrion...)
He is said to have been an accomplished Indian linguist, but none of his manuscripts has survived. His letters are well composed, artless, and sincere.
