Eugène-Casimir Chirouse

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Eugène-Casimir Chirouse (born June 15, 1854 in Hostun , Bourg-de-Péage , † February 3, 1927 in Vancouver ) was a Roman Catholic priest from the Order of the Oblates in Canada .

After visiting the Oblate Junior Council in Notre-Dame de Lumières , Eugène, as he was baptized, began his novitiate as an Oblate in Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier on July 28, 1873 under the name Eugène-Casimir Chirouse . He made his profession on July 29 of the following year. He was ordained a priest on June 7, 1879 and sent to British Columbia , where his uncle Eugène-Casimir Chirouse worked as a missionary. In October 1879 he reached New Westminster with Oblate Jean-Marie-Raphaël Le Jeune.

Chirouse spent the following winter in the local St Charles's mission , but then switched to St Mary's mission (also in Westminster), where he was employed until 1927. Three times a year he visited the First Nations ( Indians ) on the west coast. The northernmost of them lived in Bute Inlet , but also around Lillooet . He also took part in the religious meetings held by the Oblates, which were attended by up to 1,200 Indians - this happened on the occasion of the funeral of Chirouse's uncle of the same name in St Mary's in June 1892.

Eugène Chirouse had been arrested two months earlier: he had been asked by the Fountain Band in LaFontaine how Lucy Curry and a young man were to be punished who had been "caught" having sex. Chirouse had recommended 15 lashes, but left the execution of the punitive measure to the tribal council. Despite this harsh sentence, the couple could not be deterred and were punished again with 15 lashes on March 19.

Ten days later, Chief Kilapoutkue and two other members of the Fountain Indians, as well as Chirouse, were charged with aggravated assault. The justice of the peace in Lillooet, John Martley, referred the case to the next higher instance. Judge Clement Francis Cornwall sentenced Chirouse to one year in prison on May 3, 1892, for assault. The chief received six months, his two councilors two each.

However, Bishop Paul Durieu turned to Governor General Lord Stanley, who overturned all four judgments. In 1873 the Chief Justice (Chief Justice) Matthew Baillie Begbie had recognized the rights of chiefs to corporal punishment, and the justices of the peace should only intervene in excesses. In 1876 Begbie had specified that this procedure should not be used for sins, but only for violations of the law.

Apparently, Chirouse's brutal approach was seen as part of the "System Durieu", which wanted to advance the mission by means of severe punishments. The conviction is - although the sentence was not carried out - as the end of this system, which was no longer accepted by state institutions.

Chirouse returned to St Mary's where he served as the school principal and repeatedly as superior of the mission. In 1893 the school with an average of 25 students was rededicated as an industrial school , which was now funded by the state. As a result, the number of students rose to 62. The main emphasis remained on teaching agriculture for the boys and home economics for the girls. They should be kept as far away from their parents as possible.

Chirouse worked in the school until mid-January 1927 when he was admitted to St Paul's Hospital in Vancouver with stomach cancer . He died three weeks later and was buried in the Mission Oblate Cemetery.

literature

  • Margaret Whitehead: The Cariboo mission. A history of the Oblates . Sono Nis Press, Victoria BC 1981, ISBN 0-919462-91-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Chirouse, Eugène-Casimir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chirouse, Eugène
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Priest, oblate, missionary in British Columbia and Washington
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Hostun , Bourg-de-Péage , France
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 1927
Place of death Vancouver