Charles Raymbault

Charles Raymbault (1602 in France - 1643 in Quebec) was a Jesuit missionary.

Entering the Society of Jesus, Raymbault was procurator to the Canadian mission when he was called to Quebec. He traveled to the Sault Sainte Marie with Saint Isaac Jogues on a voyage of exploration and to effect a more permanent apostolate. Exhausted, he returned to Quebec and was the first Jesuit to die in Canada.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Charles Raymbault — Missionary, b. in France, 1602; entered the Society of Jesus at Rouen (1621); d. at Quebec, 1643. He was procurator in the Canadian mission when he was called to Quebec (1637). When the time came (1640) to give missionaries to the wandering tribes who frequently visited the Hurons, chiefly Nipissings and Algonquins, living east and north of Lake Huron and on the banks and islands of the Ottawa, Raymbault was sent with Father Pijart to follow them. This mission offered greater hardships than that of the Hurons, Neutrals, and Indians of the Tobacco Nation. The generosity of the Jesuits soon bore fruit. When the Sauteux Indians (1641) besought the "blackrobes" to visit them, Raymbault travelled, with the future martyr Jogues, as far the the Sault St. Marie on a voyage of exploration and with a view to a more permanent apostolate. The missionaries, besides their desire to conquer souls, were interested in the discovery of the famous passage to the Western Sea. Shortly after his return, Raymbault intended to join the Nipissings in their winter quarters, but he fell exhausted with fatigue, and was brought to Quebec, where he soon died, the first Jesuit who died in Canada. He was buried besides Champlain. According to the Relation of 1643, he was a man of great stature, of ordinary talent and learning, of sound judgment, excellent heart, and experienced in temporal affairs.

ROCHEMONTEIX, Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France (Paris, 1896); FERLAND, Cours d'histoire du Canada (Quebec, 1882); Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (Cleveland, 1896-1901).

External links

• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Charles Raymbault". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.