Thubières De Levy De Queylus, Gabriel (Vicar General to the Archbishop of Rouen in Québec, Canada)

Thubières De Levy De Queylus, Gabriel (Vicar General to the Archbishop of Rouen in Québec, Canada)

His work in Ville-Marie begins in 1657 when Thubières de Queylus leaves his home country of France. There, he becomes the founder of the Saint-Sulpice seminary. He spends many years teaching Catholicism and creating a society of religious knowledge in Montreal. He worked to reorganize the Christian territory of Montreal and prepared it for more missionaries and European settlers. Throughout his time in Ville-Marie, he also had a goal of converting the Indigenous population of Quebec, proclaiming that they need to be saved from their savage tendencies. This was done by inviting Indigenous boys into the seminary where the goal was French assimilation. He continued his role as educator, priest, Sulpician, etc. until he returned to France in 1671.

1657-1671

Person

Ville-Marie, Canada

André Vachon, “THUBIÈRES DE LEVY DE QUEYLUS (Kaylus, Kélus, Quélus), GABRIEL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 1, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed October 3, 2021, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thubieres_de_levy_de_queylus_gabriel_1E.html.

1612

Privezac, France

1677

Paris, France

Priest; Sulpician; member of the Société de Montréal; vicar general to the archbishop of Rouen; founder and first superior of the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice in Montreal.

French

Beginning at 11 years old in 1623, Thubieres became the abbot (abbé) of Loc-Dieu in Rouergue. From that year on, he did extensive religious research in Catholicism, gaining a doctorate of theology and becoming an ordained priest in 1645. That same year he joined the “Compagnie des Prêtres de Saint-Sulpice” as well as the “Société de Montréal.” The Société de Montréal created a settlement in Ville-Marie (Québec) to which Queylus was nominated to leave France in order to teach at the seminary in Canada in 1657. This wasn’t approved by the Jesuits, causing lots of tension between the groups. Prior to his departure, he was named the archbishops official and vicar-general in New France, which helped in gaining legitimacy and authority. Throughout his time in Ville-Marie, he worked on preparing the town for more settlers. In 1661, he was forced to return to France, but he returned in 1668 as a superior of the seminary in Ville-Marie. He did lots of “conversion work” in Ville-Marie including attempts at the cultural conversion of Indigenous peoples which weren’t totally successful. He stayed there until 1671 when he returned to France to live out the rest of his life.

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

Jennifer Goodman