Source: Courtesy of Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec / 52327/1958495

NOUË, ANNE DE, officer of the Privy Chamber, and then priest, Jesuit, missionary; b. 7 Aug. 1587 near Rheims; frozen to death 1 or 2 Feb. 1646 on the St. Lawrence, near Sorel.

A descendant of a noble family, Anne de Nouë spent several years at the court of Henri IV, where M. de La Vieuville had taken him into his service as a page. He was called “the handsome page.” Later he was an officer of the Privy Chamber. In September 1612 he entered the noviciate house of the Jesuits of Paris; he studied at Paris, where he acted as prefect – or supervisor of studies – during his theological courses (1618–22), and then at La Flèche and Nevers. After two years as minister of the Collège in Bourges (1622–24), he came to Canada in 1626. He spent the winter in the Huron country with Father de Brébeuf and then went to stay with the Montagnais, but although he was a keenly intelligent man, he was unable either to learn the languages of the indigenous people or to become accustomed to their way of life. On the other hand he was a skilful fisherman, which enabled him to feed the community and its friends during the dire period of 1627–28 at Quebec.

Back in France 1629–32, he was minister of the colleges of Amiens and Orléans, and then returned to Canada to look after the numerous workmen at the residence in Quebec. He stayed there until 1642, in which year he left for Trois-Rivières. During the winter of 1646 he set out to administer the sacraments to the soldiers of the garrison at Sorel. He lost his way in a blizzard. Six miles up-stream from Sorel, his body was found, in a kneeling position, bare-headed, his eyes turned towards heaven. He was buried at Trois-Rivières.

J. Monet