Chrestien Le Clercq

1641-1695

Fr. Chrestien Le Clercq (priest, Recollet missionary, author) was born in 1641 at Bapaume commune in Pas-de-Calais, France. In 1668, he joined the Recollets of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue in Artois. On 15 March 1675, he was appointed to the missions in Canada. Later that year, he left for the missions in Gaspé. He reached Percé, which served as a shelter for French fishermen, on 27 October of the same year. Le Clercq seems to have been the first missionary of his order to be assigned specifically to the Micmacs, whom he called Gaspésiens. He quickly learned their language, at least in his telling, and taught them religion through a system of figurative letters that he invented. This hieroglyphic writing remained in use and served as the basis for present-day translations from oral forms. Le Clercq also composed a dictionary for future apostles to these Indigenous peoples. Father Le Clercq worte two volumes recounting his times among this Indigenous population in eastern Canada. The first is Nouvelle relation de la Gaspésie, published in Paris in 1691 and Lyon in 1692. Father Le Clercq’s other work, entitled Premier établissement de la foy dans la Nouvelle-France, also published in 1691, was reprinted the same year under the title Établissement de la foy. In 1692, a second edition, entitled Histoire des colonies françaises, was published in Lyon.  He died in 1695, in Pas-de-Calais.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Mi'kma'ki, Nouvelle France

Archival Material