Albert Tessier ((); March 6, 1895 – September 13, 1976) was a

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

priest, historian and a film maker. He was born in

Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade () is a municipality located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, in Les Chenaux Regional County Municipality, Les Chenaux RCM, Mauricie region, Quebec, Canada. History On October 29, 1672, an area of 1.5 Fre ...

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making tourism in Mauricie popular. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km2 (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

. Tessier made over seventy films. Tessier started taking photographs with his

Kodak Brownie The Brownie was a series of camera models made by Eastman Kodak and first released in 1900. It introduced the snapshot to the masses by addressing the cost factor which had meant that amateur photography remained beyond the means of many people ...

in 1913.

Life as a Priest and Educator

He was ordained priest by

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

François-Xavier Cloutier François-Xavier Cloutier (2 November 1848 – 18 September 1934) was a Canadian Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion bapt ...

in June 1920 and received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1922. He moved back to his native area in 1924 and began a career as a teacher and professor of

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. In 1937, he replaced

Thomas Chapais Sir Joseph Amable Thomas Chapais, (; March 23, 1858 – July 15, 1946) was a French Canadian author, editor, historian, journalist, professor, and politician. Life and career Born in Saint-Denis, Quebec (then Canada East), the son of Jean ...

and took over the Chair in History of Canada at the

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

Promoting Local Identity

Tessier was known to be very proud of his area of origin. He coined the word ''Mauricie'' in 1933 to designate his native area. Before then, the expression " Saint-Maurice Valley" had been used. Many of the movies that he produced informed the public about the area's background.

Filmography

From 1925 until his death, Tessier made more than seventy non-fiction films. His favorite subjects were nature, history, religion, education and culture.

Death

Albert Tessier died at the Saint-Joseph Hospital in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

on September 13, 1976.

Legacy

The following were named in Tessier's honor: *The

Prix Albert-Tessier The Prix Albert-Tessier is an award by the Government of Quebec The Government of Quebec (, ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The term is typically used to r ...

award; *Avenue Albert-Tessier, located in

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. *Pavillon Albert-Tessier, located at

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières The (, ''University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières'', UQTR), also known as "l'université du peuple", established in 1969 and mainly located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, is a public university within the network. As of April 2016, the uni ...

External links

Fonds Albert-Tessier
from

Cégep de Trois-Rivières Cégep de Trois-Rivières is a French-language College of general and vocational education (CEGEP) in Trois-Rivières, Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Ce ...

L'Agora

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tessier, Albert 1895 births 1976 deaths Abbés Canadian male non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Film directors from Quebec Historians from Quebec 20th-century Canadian historians