An online friend recently asked for information on how to find her uncle who was a Jesuit priest in Montreal. Here is her query:
“My uncle’s name was R. P. Du Paul Marcais, Oblat de Marie, born 1868 in Rennes, France. He was the son of Victor Marcais and Arseline D’Argentre. According to “Les Missionnaires Oblats de Marie Immaculee in Montreal, he was at the Saint Thomas Parish, Jersey Island, England until 1904, so had to have emigrated to Canada after that. They told me he pronounced his first vows on 8/15/1890 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1894 but said his name did not appear in the 1907 Directory and perhaps he came to Canada as a secular priest instead of an Oblate priest. I have not had any luck contacting the diocese’ in either England or France.
I had been told all my life that he lived in the Montreal area of Canada in the early > mid 1900’s, and frequently made pilgrimages to NY to the Auriesville Shrine.
I turned to the genealogy community on the Alberta Family Histories Society electronic news forum (dist-gen) for the answer and thought I would share the suggestions as others may be searching for similar information.
Possible sources for information about Jesuit priests in Canada.
1. Quebec Family Histories Society – http://www.qfhs.ca/ – volunteer look ups
2. Drouin Collection at Ancestry.ca for birth/baptism and death/burial
3. Jesuit website at: http://www.jesuits.ca/index.php
From the home page select “about us” and then click in the side bar “English Canada Brief History”. This brings up an extract from the book “Dictionary of Jesuit Biography” which contains a timeline of their activities in English Canada Selecting “contact us” from the home page brings up a form to send enquiries to
them.
Jesuit Archive in Canada
25 Jarry Street West
Montreal, Quebec, H2P 1S6
archives@jesuites.org
www.jesuites.org/archives.htm
4. Relevant diocese archives – Catholic diocese in Canada all maintain their own archives. Google for the address.
5. Dictionary of Jesuit Biography: Ministry to English Canada. University of Calgary call number BX3755 .D53 1991. Available for interlibrary loan.
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[Editor – If can help my friend please email “rootsma AT cox.net”]