COUVERT, MICHEL-GERMAIN DE, priest, Jesuit, missionary; b. 5 Jan. 1653 in the diocese of Bayeux, France; d. 1715 at Quebec.

On 5 Nov. 1672 Michel-Germain de Couvert entered the Jesuit noviciate in Paris. He seemed destined for the highest offices in his order when, having completed his preparation, he asked for and obtained permission to go to Canada as a missionary. He arrived in 1690, the year of the expedition led by Sir William Phips* against Quebec. In a “Relation de la defaite des Anglois à Québec” Couvert has left an eye-witness account in which the facts are rendered precisely and presented in a sober style.

In 1691 he was appointed to the Huron (Wendat) mission at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, located three leagues from Quebec on the seigneury of Saint-Gabriel, which belonged to the Jesuits. He had the privilege of living there with Father Chaumonot*, whose long career was reaching its end. In 1694 Father Couvert became the mission’s superior.

In 1697, at the request of Bishop Saint-Vallier [La Croix ], the Jesuits gave up their residence and four acres of land around the church to facilitate the establishment of a parish for the French settlers. Nouvelle Lorette then became Ancienne Lorette, and the Huron mission, henceforth located near the falls on the St Charles River three leagues away from Quebec, was called Jeune Lorette (Loretteville). It was while Father Couvert was superior that this displacement occurred, as did the building of a church at the mission that preserved several treasures from Ancienne Lorette. Father Couvert humbly submitted to this administrative measure, which was desired by the bishop and which he turned to the best possible account.

The Huron, who had somewhat distanced themselves from the Roman Catholic faith, once more became exemplary Christians under Father Couvert’s guidance. Crippled with infirmities, he withdrew to the college in Quebec, where the lofty quality of his inner life was a source of edification to his companions. Certain historians say that he died in 1713, others in 1714, and others still in 1715. The last date, it seems, is the correct one, for his obituary letter, written by Father Joseph-Louis Germain and dated in Quebec on 1 Nov. 1715, begins as follows: “This is to inform Your Reverence of the loss which our Mission suffered these past days in the person of Father Michel de Couvert . . .” He had lived for 25 years in Canada and was, according to Father Rochemonteix, a consummate apostle in New France.

Léon Pouliot s.j.