François Dollier de Casson

Dollier de Casson, François

François Dollier de Casson, explorer, superior of the Sulpicians in New France (1670-74, 1678-1701), seigneur of Montréal, vicar general, historian (b in the château of Casson-sur-l'Erdre in Lower Brittany 1636; d at Montréal 27 Sept 1701). After 3 years' military service, Dollier joined the Sulpicians in Paris and was sent to Canada in 1666. He became military chaplain and then parish priest at Trois-Rivières, and in 1669 he undertook a missionary trip south of the Great Lakes. In 1670 he was named superior of the Sulpicians and seigneur of Montréal. He devoted himself to organizing the city, constructing a church and completing his Histoire du Montréal, an important document in French Canada's historiography.

Respected for his humanity, energy and understanding of the colony's problems, he competently fulfilled his religious duties and tried to improve education in Montréal. After 1680 Dollier helped with the Lachine Canal project, and established a conciliatory climate for relations between the colony's civil and religious authorities.