PÉROT, GILLES, priest, Sulpician, parish priest of Montreal; b. c. 1625 in the diocese of Chartres; d. 17 (or 16) July 1680 at Ville-Marie (Montreal).

Pérot entered the Society of Saint-Sulpice in 1651. He came to Canada in 1665. The following year he succeeded M. Gabriel Souart as parish priest and missionary at Ville-Marie. In 1678 he became the pastor or first curate, as the superior of the seminary had, at the wish of Bishop Laval*, been appointed honorary pastor in perpetuity.

He officiated at the mass on 25 March 1674 in the chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu, which at that time was being used as a parish church, when Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon delivered the famous sermon to which Governor Buade de Frontenac took such great exception. Legal proceedings ensued, which resulted in the preacher’s returning to France. M. Pérot did not express his approval of his colleague, but admitted that he had himself said just as much in his sermons without being disturbed.

As the parish priest of Ville-Marie for 15 years, M. Pérot was responsible for the building of the parish church, of which the foundation stone was laid on 30 June 1672, in the presence of Governor Rémy de Courcelle and Intendant Talon.

M. Pérot died suddenly in the seminary garden on 17 (or 16) July 1680 as he was getting ready to say mass.

Olivier Maurault

Faillon, Histoire de la colonie française, III, 495–523 et passim. H. Gauthier, Sulpitiana (Montréal, 1926), 247. Olivier Maurault, L’œuvre et fabrique de Notre-Dame de Montréal (Montréal, 1959), 29.

Revisions based on:
Bibliothèque et Arch. Nationales du Québec, Centre d’arch. de Montréal, CE601-S51, 17 juill. 1680.