First Tamil-French Dictionary by Dominique OFM.Cap

Fr. Dominique de Valence (1696-1778) a French Capuchin was an apostolic missionary to the East. He Came to Pondicherry a Tamil region, the first mission of the Capuchins in India. He came here around 1720s and ministered among the French and Tamils. He was a man of intellect and vision oriented. The French Capuchins struggled a lot to learn Tamil, the local language. Because of this they were humiliated and the new missionaries the French Jesuits mastered Tamil as soon as possible and replaced the Capuchins in most of the Tamil missions.  Thus, the Capuchins became the only care-takers of the French Christians.

         Therefore he wanted his friars to learn the language properly and get into the mission actively. There were also few Capuchin missionaries namely, Spiritus de Tours & Thomas de Poiteurs mastered Tamil and carried out a wonderful evengelization. He earned their cooperation and Tamil scholars, compiled for the first time a Tamil-French dictionary. This was a manuscript "Dictionarie et Grammaire François Tamool [ French Tamil Dictionary and Grammar]. This Dictionary contains 12,450 entries alphabetically changed with their Tamil equivalents. This was a great help to the French missionaries and all Tamils who were in contact with them. He must be acclaimed the Father of French-Tamil Dictionary.

         Fr. Dominique de Valence was appointed the head of the Capuchin Mission in Pondicherry in 1731. This mission under his able guidence flourished in all levels. He was the first mission superior to found a Christian mission in Karikal in 1740. He as Superior assisted Fr. Norbert OFM.Cap, to bring the Sisters of Urusilne in 1738 to Pondicherry for the education of French Children. Around in his time, the Capuchins, founded the First French School in Pondicherry. He renovated St. Peter (Lazer) the first church of Pondicherry in 1737, which was built by the Capuchins in 1686 by the finiancial assistence of Thanappa Mudaliar. He Served as Mission Superior till 1745 and the mission witnessed a tremendous growth.