Claude Jean Allouez was a Jesuit

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 and French explorer of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Allouez was born in Saint-Didier-en-Velay

Saint-Didier-en-Velay

Saint-Didier-en-Velay is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-References:*...

 in the département of Haute-Loire

Haute-Loire

Haute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

 in south-central France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In 1639, he graduated from the College of Le Puy, and became a Jesuit novice in Toulouse, France. In 1655, he was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. Allouez arrived in Quebec in 1658 and immediately began a study of the Wyandot

Wyandot language

Wyandot is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known variously as Wyandot, Wyandotte, Wendat, or Huron. It was last spoken primarily in Oklahoma and Quebec...

 and Anishinaabe languages to prepare himself for work as a missionary among the American Indian

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tribes along the St. Lawrence River for three years.

In 1660 he became the superior of the mission at Trois-Rivières, Quebec

Trois-Rivières, Quebec

Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada, located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence Rivers. It is situated in the Mauricie administrative region, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour...

. His stay there lasted until 1663 when he was named vicar general

Vicar general

A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...

 of a part of the diocese of Quebec

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec

The Archdiocese of Québec is the oldest Catholic see in the New World north of Mexico. The archdiocese was founded as the Apostolic Vicariate of New France in 1658 and was elevated to a Diocese in 1674 and an Archdiocese in 1819...

 that is now the central region of the United States. This appointment was made by Bishop François de Laval

François de Laval

This article is in part a sermon and generally comes close to hagiography.Blessed François-Xavier de Montmorency-Laval was the first Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec and was one of the most influential men of his day. He was appointed when he was 36 years old by Pope Alexander VII. He was a member...

, the first bishop of New France.

From 1667 through 1669 Allouez made a missionary tour of the western missions. He served as a missionary to the Potawatomi

Potawatomi

The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...

 Indians in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. The next year he was with the Mesquakie, establishing St. Mark's Mission, and founding the mission of St. James among the Miami

Miami tribe

The Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...

 and Mascouten

Mascouten

The Mascouten were a tribe of Algonquian-speaking native Americans who are believed to have dwelt on both sides of the Mississippi River adjacent to the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border....

 Indians, finally returning to Green Bay

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

 later that year. He said the first Mass in Oconto, Wisconsin

Oconto, Wisconsin

Oconto is a city in Oconto County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,708 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located partially within the town of Oconto.-History:...

. In 1671, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...

, he was a principal speaker at the ceremony that formally declared the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River valley as territory of the King of France. In 1671 he founded the St. Francis Xavier Mission

St. Francis Xavier Mission

The mission of St. Francis Xavier was a seventeenth century Jesuit mission located on the rapids of the Fox River near De Pere, Wisconsin.It was founded in 1671 by Claude Allouez to proselytize the native peoples of the western Great Lakes...

 at the last set of rapids on the Fox River

Fox River (Wisconsin)

The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Along the banks is a chain of cities, including Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Little Chute, Kimberly, Combined Locks, and Kaukauna. Except for Oshkosh, these cities refer to themselves as the Fox Cities...

 before entering the Green Bay. The site was known as Rapides Des Pères (rapids of the fathers) which became modern day De Pere, Wisconsin

De Pere, Wisconsin

De Pere is a city located in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 20,559 at the 2000 census. De Pere is a suburb of Green Bay and is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Registered historic places:...

. He continued Jacques Marquette

Jacques Marquette

Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...

's evangelizing of the Indians until his death in 1689, near what is today Niles, Michigan

Niles, Michigan

Niles is a city in Berrien and Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near South Bend, Indiana. The population was 11,600 at the 2010 census. It is the greater populated of two principal cities of and included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a...

 just north of South Bend, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana

The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...

. He is buried in Niles.

A good portion of Father Allouez’s written work from the time has been preserved. It provides insight into the missions of the time and provides a record that is extensive and important of the Catholic Church in mid-America. It also contains the first documented accounts of the Illinois Indians.

Legacy

• The small village of Allouez, Wisconsin
  Allouez, Wisconsin
  Allouez is a village in Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 15,443. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
  
   near Green Bay, is named for him.
• Allouez Trail on Mackinac Island
  Mackinac Island
  Mackinac Island is an island and resort area covering in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European...
  
  in Northern Michigan is named in his honor.

External links

• "Claude-Jean Allouez", Catholic Encyclopedia