GAY (Guay), ROBERT-MICHEL, priest, Sulpician, missionary, first superior of the mission at Lac des Deux Montagnes (Oka); b. 1663 at Autun, France; d. 29 July 1725 in Montreal.

After being ordained a priest, Robert-Michel Gay joined the Sulpicians on 10 May 1687 and left for Canada in April 1688. Upon his arrival on 15 August his superiors entrusted to him the mission at La Montagne. While there he undertook an extensive study of Indigenous languages, “receiving lessons in Algonquian from his confrère Barthélemy, in Huron from M. Mariet; from M. Belmont [Vachon] himself lessons in Iroquois.” It seems clear that Gay had a certain success in his study of these languages, since “there remained some scraps of an Algonquian grammar, which disappeared in the lamentable fire of 15 June 1877.”

When the La Montagne mission moved to Sault-au-Récollet in September 1696, Gay followed his flock. Throughout his life as a missionary, but especially at La Montagne and Sault-au-Récollet, the Sulpician made it his duty to accompany the members of his mission when they went to war, thus following the advice of his superior general. But he was not content just to act as chaplain: he was always in the front rank of combatants. His temerity soon earned him a caution from the superior of the Sulpician seminary in Paris, Louis Tronson: “We have learned from the accounts of the war just how great has been your bravery. It is a worthy form of zeal to risk oneself for the safety of one’s brothers and for the colony and our religion: but in order that God may bless your zeal and that it may not take you too far, always accompany it with obedience.” It seems that Gay did not immediately moderate his warlike ardour, for Tronson had to make new appeals for prudence the following year.

Some years later, in 1698, the missionary expressed a desire to return to France, but François Dollier de Casson, superior of the Sulpicians in New France, succeeded in dissuading him, so that he could continue his mission to the First Nations. As the years went by, Gay, convinced of the importance of the presence of missionaries among Indigenous peoples, bequeathed on 29 Oct. 1707, together with Maurice Quéré* de Tréguron and François Vachon de Belmont, a sum, the income from which was to serve in perpetuity for the maintenance of a priest in the service of these missions.

Believing that the proximity of the town constituted a danger for his flock, Gay and his superior remonstrated to the council of Marine, which soon consented to moving the mission to Lac des Deux Montagnes. This move took place in 1721, and Gay became the first superior of this mission. He kept this post until his death, which occurred on 29 July 1725 at the seminary in Montreal.

Robert-Michel Gay spent 37 years serving missions in the Montreal region and “according to the reports of the time, he exhibited in this function the virtues of an apostle and the qualities of an army general.” The recognition accorded by “his Indians” and all the members of the colony at the time of his burial in the church of Notre-Dame testify to his being among the great Sulpicians of his period.

Jean-Marc Paradis