MARTIN DE LINO, ANTOINE (baptized Guillaume), priest, Recollet; b. 7 Aug. 1690 at Quebec, son of Mathieu-François Martin de Lino, a merchant, and of Catherine Nolan; died at the time of the 1733 epidemic, probably at Quebec.

The future Recollet, the fourth child of the family, entered the Petit Séminaire of Quebec on 8 Nov. 1700, with his younger brothers Charles and Jean-Marie; driven out of the seminary by the fire of 1705, the boy Guillaume continued his classical training at the Jesuit college. At the end of his studies he entered the Canadian Recollet order. Bishop Saint-Vallier [La Croix] admitted him into the priesthood on 24 Aug. 1714.

During the 19 years of his ministry, Martin de Lino was at different times a parish priest, missionary, and officiating priest in various parishes. The first post assigned to him was the parish of Lotbinière, to which he went on 1 Nov. 1715. The following year, on 3 Aug. 1716, the Conseil Supérieur appealed to his knowledge and requested him to “draw a map of the mouth of the Duchesne River where it flows into the St Lawrence, showing the dwellings” located in the area, to be used in an action pending before the tribunal.

Father Antoine continued his ministry in the parishes of Chambly, Trois-Rivières, Beauport, Batiscan, and Saint-Jean (Île d’Orléans), and was even at Detroit from 12 Nov. 1719 to March 1722. On 2 Jan. 1728 he was present at Bishop Saint-Vallier’s funeral at the Hôpital Général, where in February he became the confessor to the nuns. We find him next at Sainte-Famille (Île d’Orléans), on 26 June, then again at the Hôpital Général, on 21 May 1729. Then from 1 Nov. 1730 to 31 July 1731 he was at Trois-Rivières. In the autumn of the latter year he travelled to France, and returned in 1732, with the title of master of novices of the convent of Quebec. It was no doubt while discharging this important duty that he died, during the epidemic of 1733.

Martin de Lino was a painter in his leisure moments. Gérard Morisset sums up his talent thus: “decorative canvases, totally lacking in contrast.”

Jacques Valois

AAQ, Registres d’insinuations C, 1, 2, 4, 5. AQ, NF, Ins. du Cons. sup., II, 136v; V, 52v; VI, 102. Jouve, Les Franciscains et le Canada: aux Trois-Rivières, 116. Gérard Morisset, Coup d’œil sur les arts en Nouvelle-France (Québec, 1941), 52. “La famille Martin de Lino,” BRH, XLI (1935), 257f. Henri Têtu, “Le chapitre de la cathédrale de Québec et ses délégués en France (1723–1773),” BRH, XVI (1910), 228.