Frederic felt an early call to the priesthood, and entered the junior seminary in his diocese, but dropped out to become a travelling salesman, working to support his family. His family obligations finally fulfilled, Frederic joined the Franciscans in his early 20's. Ordained in 1870. Miliary chaplain in the Franco-Prussian War. Assigned to the Holy Lands, he re-built the Stations of the Cross in the streets of Jerusalem, built a church in Bethlehem, and negotiated agreements between Roman, Greek and Armenian church authorities about the use of sanctuaries in Jerusalem. He first travelled to Canada in 1881 on a fund-raising trip, but returned to stay in 1888 where he worked for the next 28 years. Helped develop the shrine of Our Lady at Cap-de-la-Madeleine in Quebec, and witnessed the vision of a statue of Mary opening its eyes. Wrote biographies of the saints, newspaper articles, and, calling on his childhood training, sold religious books door to door including thousands of copies of his Manual for the Third Order. His work effectively re-established the Franciscan secular order in Canada.
Frédéric died 4 August 1916 in the Franciscan Infirmary in Montreal, Quebec, Canada of stomach cancer and was buried in the friary chapel in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. He was beatified on 25 September 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
