Archives du Pere Clarence

Son of Jim a Nicholas, Father Clarence d'Entremont was born in West Pubnico on March 15, 1909. He studied at the village school, then at Collège Sainte-Anne, and then his theological studies in Charlesbourg. He entered the Eudists in 1935 and was ordained a priest in 1936 in the province of Quebec. Then in 1938, after studying for two years, he graduated in Canon Law at the Pontifical Angelicum University in Rome. He worked in several dioceses, traveling from Quebec to Maryland, in the United States.

Suffering from asthma and diagnosed with cancer, he underwent surgery in 1962 which led to having to lighten his workload. He then worked as chaplain from 1965 to 1982 for a retirement home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. In 1982, he retired from the ministry and returned to Pubnico, his native village.

Father Clarence d'Entremont is well known as an Acadian historian and genealogist. He has published 100s of articles and presented 29 speeches and conferences in addition to his numerous radio and television interviews. A member of 18 historical and genealogical societies, Father Clarence published eleven books, including his Histoire du Cap-Sable, in five volumes. Having received several honorary doctorates and awards of merit, his career culminated in receiving, in April 1992, the highest honor in the country, the Order of Canada.

He had an ardent affection for the history of Acadia, especially southwestern Nova Scotia, and bequeathed to Acadia a wealth of information. Father Clarence d'Entremont died on Friday, November 13, 1998 at the Villa acadienne in Meteghan. Coming from a family of nine children, he was the only survivor.