Léon Abel Provancher

Léon Abel Provancher (b. 10 March 1820, in the parish of Bécancour, Nicolet County, Quebec; d. at Cap-Rouge, Quebec, 23 March 1892) was a Canadian Catholic parish priest and naturalist. He studied at the College and Seminary of Nicolet, and was ordained 12 September, 1844.

Life

He organized two pilgrimages to Jerusalem, one of which he conducted in person. In 1865 he established in his parish at Portneuf a confraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis, probably the first of its kind in Canada.

Time he could spare from his pastoral duties was devoted to the study and description of the fauna and flora of Canada; his pioneer work won for him the appellation of the "Father of Natural History in Canada".

Works

In 1868 he founded the "Naturaliste Canadien", a monthly publication which he edited for twenty years, and from 1869 until his death he was engaged almost exclusively in scientific work.

Among his chief writings are:

*"Traité élémentaire de Botanique" (Quebec, 1858)
*"Flore canadienne" (2 vols., Quebec, 1862)
*"Le Verger Canadien" (Quebec, 1862); "Le Verger, le Potager et le Parterre" (Quebec, 1874)
*"Faune entomologique du Canada" (3 vols., 1877-90)
*"De Québec à Jérusalem" (1884)
*"Une Excursion aux Climats tropicaux" (1890)
*"Les Mollusques de la Province de Québec".

References

*Laflamme, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 1892, Presidential Address (Ottawa, 1893)
*Huard, L'Abbé Provancher in Le Naturaliste Canadien, XXI-XXVI, XXX (Chicoutimi, 1894-9; Quebec, 1903).

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12505a.htm the "Catholic Encyclopedia"]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6378 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]