PIERRON, JEAN, priest, Jesuit, missionary; b. 28 Sept. 1631 at Dun-sur-Meuse, France; d. probably 20 Feb. 1700 at Pont-à-Mousson, France.

Jean Pierron became a Jesuit at Nancy on 21 Nov. 1650, and after periods of studying and teaching at Pont-à-Mousson, Verdun, and Metz, he arrived at Quebec 27 June 1667. He made his solemn profession in the Society of Jesus 5 March 1668.

Along with Frémin and Boquet he took part in the re-opening of the mission in the Iroquois country, where he stayed from 1667 to 1674, with the Mohawks among others.

He made a great impression upon these Indians because of his talent for sketching and painting. He spent the winter of 1674 in Acadia. That same year he travelled in disguise through New England, Maryland, and Virginia. At Boston he had several discussions on religious matters with Protestant ministers, but despite his disguise he was suspected of being a Jesuit and was summoned to appear before the General Assembly of Massachusetts. He was not, however, otherwise interfered with. In Maryland he met three English Jesuits and suggested to his superiors, though in vain, that he be sent there to help them. After three more years among the Iroquois he returned to France in 1678.

J. Monet

ACSM, f.301, biographical notes based on the old Jesuit catalogues. JR (Thwaites), passim. JJ (Laverdière et Casgrain), passim. Campbell, Pioneer priests, I, 215–25. Rochemonteix, Les Jésuites et la Nouvelle-France au XVII^e siècle, II, 404. J. G. Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United States (4v., New York, 1886–92), I: The Catholic Church in colonial days . . . 1521–1763.