Pierre Biard (c. 1567 – November 17, 1622) was a Jesuit missionary who was given orders by Father Pierre Coton, confessor and preacher to King Louis XIII, to take charge of the Jesuit mission, located in Acadia.[1] The colonial territory in northeastern North America rejected Father Biard's authority, resulting in a hostile dismissal by the settlers. Father Biard was instructed to establish a mission named Saint Sauveur at Mount Desert Island (probably at Fernald Point in Somes Sound, near Southwest Harbor, in 1613. Only shortly later, mission of Saint Sauveur was plundered and ruined, Biard was kidnapped, and taken to Jamestown, Virginia. Once there he was compelled by the marauders to return to Mt Desert Island so that Father Biard and his companion could be framed for instigating the attack.[1] Seeking a way to avoid execution Father Biard hid on the attacking ship that was returning to the English colony, by chance this resulted in his return to France. Once in France, his actions and testimony were vindicated by Samuel de Champlain. He lived out his life as a successful missionary in the south of France, dying in Avignon in 1622.
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Pierre Biard was born in Grenoble, France in 1576. He entered the Jesuit monastic order where he received his education. Later, he was awarded a scholastic chair in the topics of theology and Hebrew in Lyon.[1]
In 1608, Father Coton called him away from his professorship with orders to take charge of the mission Acadia, the only Jesuit mission at the time. Biard and his companion, Énemond Massé, were finally after many months, able to secure a passage to the Acadia in 21 January 1611. They achieved this by becoming part owners of a ship and its cargo bound for Acadia, purchased through the help of the Marquise de Guercheville. Immediately upon arriving, in Port Royal on Pentecost Day May 22, they discovered that a considerable number of the colonists opposed his posting vehemently.[1] The religious history of the French colony, up to that time, was primarily Calvinist, due to de Monts Acadia's founder being a Calvinist. Preceding Father Biard's posting, a secular priest named Josue Flesche, had circumvented Jesuit canon by indiscriminately baptizing colonists.[1] The colonists remained hostile; viewing Biard's involvement in the ship purchase as morally questionable. Biard did little to soothe tensions, accusing the governor Charles de Biencourt as being selfish and materialistic. The settlers asked Biard and Masse to leave the settlement at which point Biard excommunicated the opposing colonists.[2] Succeeding de Monts as proprietor of the colony, Madame de Guercheville arranged for the vessel under René Le Coq de La Saussaye to stop and pick up Biard and Masse at Port Royal. As instructed, Father Biard was told to found a colony elsewhere.[1]
La Saussaye took the two Jesuits to Bar Harbor, later to become Bar Harbor, Maine. Father Biard and Father Masse established the mission of Saint Sauveur, in 1613. Shortly thereafter, hardly having begun the colony, a privateer named Samuel Argall plundered the colony and kidnapped Biard, Masse, and four other colonists taking them to Jamestown.[1] There they were nearly hanged, prevented by the authority of Samuel Argall. Knowing the French colonists opinion of Father Biard, the marauders set up Biard and Masse, making it appear as if they had planned the attack for their own financial gains. Implicated as traitors they escaped execution by sailing off with the attacking party, where they would have probably been executed as well.[1]
The ship set sail, intending tong no papers and on the point of being hanged, Father Biard managed to save himself and his companions from execution by thoroughly explaining the situation to the authorities. The authorities released him and he was extradited to France.[1]
Upon returning to France, Biard was subject to a storm of abuse due to the suspicion surrounding the destruction of Port Royal, by the English.[1] Explaining the criticism as outrageous, Champlain vindicated Father Biard's and Masse's testimonies. Biard returned to Lyon and resumed his work as a professor of theology. Biard later decided to try missionary work again, traveling the south of France. He resumed his friendship with Marc Lescarbot, a French lawyer, author, and former colonist of the Acadian colony. Lescarbot detested Jesuits but is recorded of speaking of Biard in flattering terms. Biard and his story later became famous and he was made the military chaplain for all the armies of the king. He remained a chaplain and a missionary until his death at Avignon in 1622.[1]