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 pursued historical and genealogical research, with particular attention to the period of the French colonization of Canada: certain essays published in journals and periodicals drew the government’s attention to him, and in 1867 he received an official commission to establish the exact genealogy of the French families subsequently settled in Canada. T. was thus 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 won him national fame and earned him admission to the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s foremost scientific institution. For his part, Pope Leo XIII conferred prelatic dignity upon him after the publication of the Répertoire du clergé canadien par ordre chronologique (5th ed., 1893). Mons. T. continued his favorite studies until his death, elucidating the history of the Canadian Church without neglecting the apostolate, directed especially toward the educated classes.