Description of Historic Place

The birthplace of Monsignor Jean Chiasson (1852-1946) is a simple single gable roofed home with an attached porch. It is located in the rural community of St. Felix, PEI, adjacent to the highway.

Heritage Value

The Monsignor Jean Chiasson Birthplace is important because of its connection to the early life and formative years of Monsignor Jean Chiasson. As such, it has a heritage value not only to the Acadian community in PEI, but also to the entire Acadian people.

Monsignor Jean Chiasson (1852-1946) was a significant figure in the Acadian Renaissance of the latter part of the 19th Century. He attended St. Dunstan's College in Charlottetown and the Little and Grand Seminaries in Quebec. In 1881, he was briefly appointed as Rector of St. Dunstan's College - the first and only Acadian to hold that office. In 1882, he served for a period as parish priest at Indian River, PEI.

At the famous Acadian National Convention, held at Memramcook, New Brunswick on July 20, 1881 - Chiasson proposed the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Assumption (August 15) as the appropriate national holiday for all Acadians. He argued that this was appropriate since the French colony of "Acadie" had been consecrated to "Our Lady of the Assumption" on February 10, 1638 by Pope Urban VIII upon the advice of France's King Louis XIII. In 1938, this proposal became reality by proclamation of Pope Pius XI.

Chiasson became a Monsignor in 1928. He is interred at St. Augustine's Parish in South Rustico.

Source: PEI Heritage Advisory Committee Files, # 4310-20-C2

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the home is apparent in:

- the simplistic design of the house with its single gable roof and one and one half storey wooden construction
- the physical location of the house in St. Felix, PEI, in an Acadian region of the Province
- the placement of the windows and doors