Petit, Louis (priest in Port-Royal, Acadia)

Petit, Louis (priest in Port-Royal, Acadia)

Petit began his work in Port Royal, Acadia, in 1676. He was sent to be the first bishop to represent the priest at Quebec. Petit had a strong support for education for Acadians. He was close friends with Pierre Chenet Dubrueil, who taught the boys of Port-Royal. Petit also requested a nun be sent to Port-Royal to run a boarding school for girls. When New Englander William Phips came to Acadia and demanded surrender, Petit was sent to negotiate. However, the terms of the agreement were violated and Petit was taken prisoner in Boston. He later returned to Quebec and continued to serve as a bishop.

1676 - 1690

Person

Port Royal, Acadia

Gérard Desjardins, “PETIT, LOUIS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 1, 2021, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/petit_louis_2E.html.

Peter Landry, "Father Louis Petit", in Historical Biographies, 2020, accessed October 1, 2021, https://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1700-63/Petit.htm

1629

Belzane, France

1709

Quebec

Military captain; secretary; priest

French

Louis Petit was born in Belzane. In his youth he joined the military, serving as a captain and arriving in Quebec in 1665. He was ordained a priest in 1670 by Bishop Laval, and served at several locations in New France before becoming vicar general of Acadia, and living in Port-Royal, which was the administrative capital of Acadia. Petit's work in Port-Royal had a strong focus on education for both boys and girls. In 1690, William Phips came to Port-Royal from Boston and demanded surrender. Petit was sent to negotiate, but the agreement was violated and the church of Port-Royal was burned. Petit and another priest were taken prisoner and went into captivity in Boston. Later that year they were released and sent back to Quebec. In Quebec, he continued his work as a priest and almost died in a fire. He was later accused of being an Anglophile for surrendering so easily in Port-Royal, but the accusations did not come to much. Louis Petit died in 1709.

Peter Landry, "Father Louis Petit", in Historical Biographies, 2020, accessed October 1, 2021, https://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1700-63/Petit.htm

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Conflict and Change in Early Canadian History (Carleton HIST 1301)

Audrey Gunn