Marcoux, Joseph
Marcoux, Joseph
Missionary and linguist, born in Canada, 1791; died there, 1855. Ordained 1813, he evangelized the Iroquois, first at Saint Regis, later at Caughnawaga. He acquired such proficiency in the Iroquois tongue as to attain a high rank among philologists through his Iroquois grammar and French-Iroquois dictionary. Father Marcoux translated into Iroquois, Father De Ligny’s “Life of Christ,” and published in that language a collection of prayers, hymns, and canticles, a catechism; calendar of Catholic ritual, and a number of sermons.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Marcoux, Joseph
A missionary among the Iroquois, b. in Canada, 16 March, 1791; d. there 29 May, 1855. He was ordained 12 January, 1813, and spent the remaining forty-two years of his life evangelizing the Iroquois, first at St. Regis and later at Caughnawaga, or Sault-St-Louis. In addition to his fruitful efforts towards the betterment of the spiritual and social condition of the Indians, he acquired such proficiency in the Iroquois tongue as to attain a high rank among philologists through his Iroquois grammar and his French-Iroquois dictionary. For his flock, whom he had provided with church and schools (1845), he translated into Iroquois Pere de Ligny’s “Life of Christ”, and published in their own language, a collection of prayers, hymns, and canticles (1852), a catechism (1854), a calendar of Catholic ritual, and a number of sermons. He died in 1855 of typhoid fever, at that time epidemic among the Iroquois.
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APPLETON, Cyclopaedia ot American Biography, s. v.; TANGUAY, Rep. general du clerge canadien.
FLORENCE REDGE MCGAHAN Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas Dedicated to the Catholics of Ontario
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IXCopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York