R. P. (Pierre Jean Baptiste) Duchaussois

Born in Walincourt, France, on August 4, 1878, Pierre Jean-Baptiste Duchaussois became a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and built his life around missionary work. He later died in Nice on November 9, 1940.

Duchaussois is remembered for writing about missions and life in the Canadian North. His books include Aux glaces polaires: Indiens et esquimaux and Apôtres inconnus, works that introduced many readers to the religious, geographic, and human world of the far northwest.

His writing reached beyond strictly religious circles. The Académie française lists Aux glaces polaires among the works for which he received a literary prize, showing that his travel and missionary writing also found a wider audience.