Eudist, teacher, and poet
Modeste Champoux, C.J.M.
Teacher and poet. Father Modeste Champoux was ordained in Halifax in 1907. This short biography was compiled by Daniel Laprès, whose contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
Born in Saint-Paul-de-Joliette in 1881
Modeste Champoux was born in Saint-Paul-de-Joliette on November 21, 1881, to Cyriaque Champoux, a farmer, and Henriette Goyette. From 1895 to 1900, he completed his classical studies at the Séminaire de Joliette, then continued his education at the juniorate in Church Point, Nova Scotia.
He entered the Eudist novitiate in Halifax and was ordained a priest there on May 25, 1907.
He taught at Church Point
From 1907 to 1910, he taught at Collège Sainte-Anne in Church Point. From 1910 to 1915, he taught at Collège du Sacré-Cœur in Caraquet, New Brunswick. He returned to Collège Sainte-Anne from 1915 to 1917 to teach literature and singing. In 1918, he was appointed curate in Chandler, in the Gaspé region.
He wrote several poems
In 1916, he published a booklet containing two poems, The Old House and Little Barcarolle.
He published many other poems in Joliette’s newspaper L’Étoile du Nord. He planned to gather them in a collection to be titled Laurentian Countryside.
Father Champoux’s first Mass in Saint-Paul
This article about musician Modeste Paul Champoux and his nephew, the poet Modeste Champoux, appeared in Joliette’s L’Étoile du Nord on January 20, 1927. The same text was reprinted later that year in the volume Les Anciens du Séminaire: écrivains et artistes, p. 126-127. (Source: BAnQ)
The Old House
The poem The Old House was set to music by his uncle, Modeste Paul Champoux, a composer and music teacher in Syracuse, New York.
Sources: Daniel Laprès, Forgotten Quebec Poetry; Michel Du Paul, “The Old House,” a song from the Quebec repertoire.
Little Barcarolle
The following English translations are based on the original French poems.
Death
Modeste Champoux died in Chandler on December 3, 1918, at the age of 37, during the Spanish flu epidemic. His death was noted in La Presse on December 12, 1918.
Moïse Arsenault and Gérald Léger, C.J.M., at the first Eudist monuments in Chandler