TANGUAY, CYPRIEN. - Canadian priest and historian, b. at Québec in 1819, d. there in 1902.
He studied at the Seminary of Québec; ordained a priest in 1843, he devoted himself for more than twenty years to parish ministry, especially at Rimouski, where he founded (1860) a renowned college. He also founded the convent of Notre-Dame at St-Germain. Meanwhile he occupied himself with historical and genealogical research, with particular attention to the period of the French colonization of Canada: certain essays published in reviews and periodicals drew upon him the attention of the government, and in 1867 he received an official commission to establish the exact genealogy of the French families settled successively in Canada, and T. was able to publish the Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes françaises depuis les origines de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours (7 vols., 1871-90), which gave him national fame and earned him admission to the Royal Society of Canada, the country's foremost scientific institute. For his part, Pope Leo XIII conferred on him prelatical dignity after the publication of the Répertoire du clergé canadien par ordre chronologique (5th ed., 1893). Msgr. T. continued his beloved studies until his death, illustrating the vicissitudes of the Canadian Church without neglecting the apostolate, directed especially toward the educated classes.
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Renzo U. Montini