Léon Abel Provancher 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

Portneuf, Quebec

Southern main part...

 a confraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis

Third Order of St. Francis

The Third Order of St. Francis is a third order within the Franciscan movement of the Roman Catholic Church. It includes both congregations of vowed men and women and fraternities of men and women living standard lives in the world, usually married...

, 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".

External links

• the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online