The collection contains documents and publications documenting mainly the activities of Father Charles Chiniquy. Material on the members of the Chiniquy family, including his two sons in law, Joseph L. Morin and Samuel Delagneau, are also found in the collection. It is divided into 13 series: Publications by Charles Chiniquy; Notes, speeches and drafts; Family letters; Family photographs; Chiniquy bible and its contents; Notarized acts, mortgages and other documents; Letters to Charles Chiniquy and his family; Handwritten press clippings; Chiniquy Library - Books and articles; Abraham Lincoln and Peter Spink; Additions by the family; Funerals and commemorations; Additions by Allan Pequegnat.
Chiniquy, Charles, 1809-1899 : Charles Chiniquy was born in Kamouraska on July 30, 1809 and studied at the Séminaire de Nicolet. He was ordained a priest in 1833 at Notre Dame Cathedral in Quebec City. Following his ordination, he worked in the parishes of Saint-Charles and Saint-Roch near Quebec City before being appointed the parish priest of Nativité-de- Notre-Dame in Beauport in 1838. It was during this time that Father Chiniquy gained a reputation through his crusade against alcoholism. He founded a temperance society, which led him to preach in nearby parishes and in Montréal. In 1843, he became the parish priest for the Saint-Louis parish in Kamouraska. He published his Manuel ou Règlement de la société de tempérance dédié à la jeunesse canadienne in April 1844.
In October 1846, he decided to enter the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which he then left in 1847. The Bishop of Montréal, Msgr. Ignace Bourget assigned him to preach temperance in his diocese in 1848. He became known as the "apostle of temperance," attracting large crowds to his sermons. In 1851, Chiniquy offered his services to the Bishop of Chicago and settled in St. Anne, Illinois where he was the priest for a parish made up largely of French Canadian immigrants to the United States. After clashes with the Bishop of Chicago, he was suspended and, shortly afterwards, excommunicated in September 1856.
Chiniquy left the Catholic Church and decided to join the Presbyterian church where he was ordained a Presbyterian minister in February 1860. However, in June 1862, the Chicago presbytery temporarily stripped him of all his duties as a minister. In 1863, the synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada accepted him as a minister and his St. Anne congregation was admitted to the synod. Chiniquy published a number of books and articles attacking the Roman Catholic Church and, encouraged by his preaching, French Canadians and others converted to Protestantism. The Presbyterian Church assigned him this mission in 1873. His public speaking took him to Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and England. In 1875, Chiniquy returned to settle in Quebec with his family. He wrote his memoirs, which appeared in two volumes: the first in 1885, and the second posthumously in 1900. Chiniquy died in Montréal on January 16, 1899.
