Félix-Antoine Savard

Who was Félix-Antoine Savard?

Félix-Antoine Savard, OC MSRC was a Canadian priest, academic, poet, novelist and folklorist.

Born in Quebec City, he grew up in Chicoutimi, Quebec. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1918 and was ordained a priest in 1922. He occupied several ecclesiastical positions in Charlevoix and Saguenay before founding the parish of Clermont in Charlevoix.

While in Clermont, Savard explored the Charlevoix countryside and became well acquainted with the local raftsmans. The mountains of Charlevoix would become the stage for his 1937 novel Menaud, maître-draveur that made his famous and that earned his a medal from the Académie française. The novel remains to this day one of the most well-known works in Quebec literature. Along Maria Chapdeleine, the title character, Menaud, remains one of the great figures of nationalism in Quebec.

He joined the Faculty of Arts at Université Laval in 1945 and from 1950 to 1957 was its Dean.