16 Facts About Recollects

Recollects were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order.

French Recollects had 11 provinces, with 2,534 friaries by the late 18th century.

Recollects were important as early missionaries to the French colonies in Canada, although they were later displaced by the Jesuits.

Champlain initially turned to the Recollects after receiving advice from his friend Sieur Louis Houel, Secretary to King Louis XIII and controller-general of the salt works at Hiers-Brouage.

The Recollects petitioned the French government several times between 1630 and 1637 to return to New France, but were blocked by Cardinal Richelieu and his agents, who were determined to keep both the Jesuits and the Recollects out of New France.

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Several Recollects, including veteran missionary Joseph Le Caron, appealed to the Capuchin missionaries, originally from New England, to return the Quebec mission to them.

Frustrated with the French bureaucracy, the Recollects petitioned the papacy in Rome to return to New France, and succeeded in gaining permission to undertake their endeavour in 1637.

The third period, from 1625 until their expulsion from New France in 1629, marks a time frame in which the Recollects shared their territory with the Jesuits, as the latter only arrived in New France in 1625.

The Recollects never neglected the French settlers in favour of devoting themselves entirely to the conversion of natives.

In practice the native populations encountered by the Recollects had no intentions on settling permanently in the French colony.

Recollects writes about what a typical day with them looked like: Recollects would usually eat with them, and then he would sometimes follow them as they went about their everyday lives.

Recollects became Provincial Commissary of the mission in 1618 and preached the first jubilee accorded to Canada.

The writings of the Recollects were less popular than those of the Jesuits, who targeted a wider audience.

When writing about their missions, the Recollects emphasized the importance of observing, interacting with and understanding indigenous societies prior to writing about them.

Recollects were important in the documentation of indigenous life in New France.

In 1620, the Recollects completed construction on the Notre-Dame-des-Agnes convent in Quebec, the first Canadian convent and Seminary.