Louis André

Who was Louis André?

Louis André was a French born Jesuit priest and missionary who came to New France in 1669. He assisted with the evangelization of the American Indians in Quebec.

He was born in Saint-Rémy in France. He was ordained a priest of the Jesuit order and came to Canada in 1669. He assisted in the formal ceremony declaring the North West Territory was the territory of the King of France. His first missionary duty was served among the Indians around Lake Huron. With Claude-Jean Allouez, he built the De Pere Mission of St. Francis Xavier in Wisconsin. He continued to serve as a missionary, evangelizing the Menominee, Potawatomi, and Winnebago tribes in the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area. He relocated to Mackinac in 1682 and 1683, going on to teach at the Jesuit College in Quebec for several years. He returned to missionary work on the lower St. Lawrence River from 1691-1692. He died in Quebec some years later.

Father André's ministry in the New World combined a great deal of missionary work as well as a number of years teaching philosophy and Latin. At some time in Canada he compiled an important Algonkin and Ottawa dictionary and a small conversational manual which still exists.