COOKE, THOMAS (1792-1870)

COOKE, THOMAS, Catholic missionary in northern New Brunswick, 1817-23; b. Pointe-du-Lac, Lower Canada, 9 Feb 1792, s/o John Thomas Cooke and Isabelle Guay; ordained 1814; d. Three Rivers, Que., 31 Mar 1870.

Although his father was Irish, Thomas Cooke was educated in French at the Collège de Nicolet and was trained for the priesthood at the Grand Séminaire de Quebec. He was a curate in Quebec before he was appointed missionary to northern New Brunswick in August 1817. For the next six years, from his base at Caraquet, he ministered to the Micmac, Acadian, Irish, and Scots Catholics, "from Belledune to Bay du Vin." When on the Miramichi his place of residence was at Bartibog. He was a stern priest who did not hesitate to discipline the members of the flock for drunkenness and other offenses.

After leaving New Brunswick in 1823, Cooke was a parish priest in Lower Canada. In 1852, he was appointed first bishop of the diocese of Three Rivers, a position which he held until his death in 1870.