January / February 2001 Vol. 33, no. 1

Michel Thériault, 1942-2000

André Paul, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Services

After a two-year-long fight with cancer, our former colleague Michel Thériault passed away on September 27, at the Elisabeth Bruyère Health Centre in Ottawa. Between 1975 and 1985, Michel Thériault was responsible for the Retrospective Bibliography Division of the National Library.

The funeral was held at Ottawa’s Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste on September 29, 2000, and was attended by his sister, Marie-Josée Thériault, as well as by many friends and colleagues from the Faculty of Canon Law at Saint Paul University. As one of the speakers at the funeral mentioned, illness limited Michel’s activities, but did not stop him. During his illness, he worked on the preparation of a glossary of expressions used in canon law, Canonical Glossary: 125 Terms to Help You Through Culture Shock. It was his strong desire to complete and publish this book, devised especially for new students, before he passed away. He also worked up to the last minute on the contents of Studia Canonica: A Canadian Canon Law Review, vol. 34, no. 2, of which he was the editor, and which was published shortly before his death. Michel Thériault was a fine example of an individual who has the courage and determination to promote learning despite personal difficulties.

Michel Thériault, son of the famous Canadian author Yves Thériault, was a relentless and meticulous worker and a canon law scholar. Those qualities were reflected unanimously in the comments made at his funeral, and in those made by individuals who had worked with him at the National Library. His career took two very different directions: immediately after completing his Ph.D. in canon law, in 1967, Michel obtained a master’s in library sciences (University of Toronto, 1969). After finishing his studies, he chose the route of the professional librarian, but at the same time maintained his interest in canon law, working for 15 years as a professional librarian. Then, he returned to use his original training in canon law, and for these last 15 years he worked in the canon law area, as professor of canon law and Secretary at the Faculty of Canon Law at Saint Paul University.

His first position as librarian was at the Université de Montréal, where he worked for about five years. He then came to the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, where he stayed for approximately 10 years. While he was with the National Library, Michel directed the Retrospective Bibliography Division and worked diligently to compile this significant bibliographic tool, which was to be an exhaustive inventory of Canada’s published heritage from 1867 to 1900. His taste for in-depth research in bibliographic sources and archival fonds and his profound and detailed knowledge of these sources were incredibly well-suited assets to his precise and laborious research duties. When Division staff had problems tracing a title, Michel would show them some of the sources to consult, or offer to contact a religious community or other ecclesiastic organizations in order to find the missing information or original documents.

Between 1975 and 1985, he worked non-stop to continue and complete the work started in 1953 by Raymond Tanghe, Bibliographer Emeritus and Assistant National Librarian, who had been assisted by Madeleine Pellerin. With a very small team of professionals and bibliographers  --  a total of three or four people, depending on the year  --  and with the help of several students who were hired during the summers, the national retrospective bibliography, reaching back to 1900, was built "brick by brick". An employee who worked on the project at the time remembers spending weeks carefully writing down all the titles of the Quebec bishops’ mandements (pastoral instructions) held in the archives of Saint Paul University, as well as the titles of dusty monographs dating between 1867 and 1900 held at the Library of Parliament. Staff also frequently consulted the Canadian Union Catalogue in order to find monographs by Canadian authors and organizations that had been identified by participating Canadian libraries and reported to the Union Catalogue.

With their tireless efforts, Michel Thériault and his staff accomplished a colossal task despite a lack of resources. In 1975, when Michel joined the National Library, the national retrospective bibliography included approximately 20 000 titles. Before he left in 1985, the bibliography had doubled to include more than 40 000 entries. In July 1980, the National Library published its first issue of Canadiana 1867-1900: Monographs, in microform format. This was the culmination of 27 years of careful bibliographic research on this period of our history. This first exhaustive list of Canadian publishing was completed by successive overhauls and additions over the course of the following years. During this era of the National Library, Michel Thériault gave several talks throughout the country on the work the National Library was doing in the area of retrospective bibliography.

The publication of a reference work entitled The Institutes of Consecrated Life in Canada from the Beginning of New France up to the Present: Historical Notes and References marked the year 1980 for Michel Thériault. This work has proven to be an indispensable tool for tracing the history of the various religious communities that were established in Canada and that played an important role in the social and political life of the country, as well as in publishing and conserving the Canadian published heritage. Michel Thériault devoted several years of research and conducted in-depth verifications in order to complete this work, which was published by the National Library of Canada.

We are deeply saddened by the death of our former colleague Michel Thériault, and the National Library staff offer their condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. The Library is also saddened by the loss of a devoted and competent bibliographer who, over many years, contributed to the development of an exhaustive inventory of Canadian publishing. The National Library pays tribute to Michel Thériault, an exceptional man who was both a professional librarian and a scholar of religious publishing and canon law.

Thériault, Michel.  --  Les instituts de vie consacrée au Canada depuis les débuts de la Nouvelle-France jusqu’à aujourd’hui : notes historiques et références = The institutes of consecrated life in Canada from the beginning of New France up to the present : historical notes and references.  --  Ottawa : Bibliothèque nationale du Canada = National Library of Canada, 1980.  --  295 p.

International Congress of Canon Law (5th : 1984 : Saint Paul University, Ottawa).  --  Le nouveau Code de droit canonique : actes du V^e Congrès international de droit canonique / organisé par l’Université Saint-Paul et tenu à l’Université d’Ottawa, du 19 au 25 août 1984 = The new Code of canon law : proceedings of the 5th International Congress of Canon Law / organized by Saint Paul University and held at the University of Ottawa, August 19-25, 1984 ; edited by Michel Thériault and Jean Thorn.  --  Ottawa : Faculté de droit canonique, Université Saint-Paul = Faculty of Canon Law, Saint Paul University, 1986.  --  2 v.

Unico ecclesiae servitio : Études de droit canonique offertes à Germain Lesage, o.m.i., en l’honneur de son 75^e anniversaire de naissance et du 50^e anniversaire de son ordination presbytérale = Unico ecclesiae servitio : canonical studies presented to Germain Lesage, O.M.I., on the occasion of his 75th birthday and of the 50th anniversary of his presbyteral ordination ; edited by Michel Thériault and Jean Thorn.  --  Ottawa : Faculté de droit canonique, Université Saint-Paul = Faculty of Canon Law, Saint Paul University, 1991.  --  355 p.

Code de droit canonique bilingue et annoté.  --  Edited by E. Caparros, M. Thériault and J. Thorn.  --  2nd ed. rev. and updated.  --  Montreal : Wilson & Lafleur, 1999.  --  1984 p.

Germovnik, Francis.  --  Indices ad Corpus iuris canonici.  --  Edito altera / a Michaële Thériault recognita.  --  Ottavae : Facultas iuris canonici, Universitas Sancti Pauli, 2000.  --  497 p.

Catholic Church. Pope (1978- : John Paul II). Apostolic constitution Pastor bonus, 28 June 1988.  --  Translated into English by Francis C.C.F. Kelly, James H. Provost and Michel Thériault.  --  2nd rev., bilingual and annotated Latin-English ed., prepared by Michel Thériault.  --  Ottawa : Faculty of Canon Law, Saint Paul University, 2000.  --  80 p.