Belmont, François Vachon de
BELMONT, FRANÇOIS VACHON DE
Sulpician missionary; b. Grenoble, France, April 2, 1645; d. Montreal, Canada, May 22, 1732. He came from a family of judges and scholars and possessed both fortune and talents. In 1680 he was sent to Canada, where he worked as missionary among the indigenous people, rebuilding at his own expense the "Mountain Mission" burned down in 1694. In 1701 he was appointed superior of Saint-Sulpice in Montreal and played an important part in the affairs of the French colony, including the digging of the Lachine Canal, begun by Dollier de Casson, and the erection of the Jesuit Chapel and the façade of Notre Dame Church. He was the author of a history of Canada from 1608 to 1700, published (1840) by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in its first series of Historical Documents.
Bibliography: o. maurault, Le Fort des Messieurs (Montreal 1925). h. gauthier, Sulpitiana (Montreal 1926).
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