St Francis de Montmorency Laval is the Patron Saint of Patrons of the bishops of Canada
St Francis de Montmorency Laval Life History |
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Date of Birth | 30 April 1623 |
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Country of Birth | France in Europe |
Profession | First Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec |
Place of Work | Canada |
Date of Death | 6 May 1708 (aged 85) |
Place of Death | Quebec, Viceroyalty of New France, French colonial empire |
Feast Day | May 6 |
Beatification | By Pope John Paul II on 22 June 1980 Vatican City |
Canonization | By Pope Francis on 3 April 2014 |
Patron Saint of | Patrons of the bishops of Canada |
Saint Francis de Montmorency Laval Life History
Saint Francis de Montmorency Laval is also known as François de Montmorency Laval
• He is the third son of Hughes de Laval, an aristocrat soldier, and Michelle de Péricard.
• His was an old, distinguished and religious family, and Francis early felt a call to the priesthood.
• He was educated by Jesuits at La Fleche from ages eight to fourteen.
• His father died when the boy was thirteen, and as clerical positions were often as much politics as religion, Francis was made a parish canon so that his salary could help support the family.
• He studied for the priesthood at the Jesuit Clermont College in Paris, France at age nineteen, but withdrew for a while in 1645 when his two older brothers died and he was forced to manage the family estates.
• He was ordained on 1 May 1647 and became Archdeacon of Evreux.
• He was member of the Paris Foreign Mission Society at age thirty.
• He was Vicar apostolic of Tongkin, Indochina (modern Vietnam) in 1653, but family obligations and the turmoil of the region prevented him moving there. • He resigned his position in 1654 to spend four years in a hermitage in Caen.
• He became Titular bishop of Petraea.
• He was appointed vicar apostolic of New France (modern Canada) by Pope Alexander VII in 1658.
• He was consecrated as bishop on 8 December 1658.
• He arrived in Quebec City, population 500, to take up his new duties on 16 June 1659.
• His territory covered all of Canada and the central section of what would become the United States.
• It was an enormous frontier diocese in need of administration, stability, and evangelization, and Francis approached it as spiritual work.
• He promoted missionary work, and supported missionaries from the Jesuits and Recollect Franciscans.
• He restored the shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré, and built the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
• He founded the seminary of Quebec in 1663, and started the Catholic school system throughout Canada.
• Quebec was established as a diocese in 1674, and Laval consecrated its first bishop.
• He fought the alcohol trade to the Indian tribes, had it outlawed within his territory, and excommunicated those who dealt in it.
• His work slowed the trade and improved the lives of the natives, but made him many enemies within the liquor trade.
• In 1684 he went into retirement, becoming a hermit at the seminary in Quebec, hoping to live out his life in prayer.
• However, disastrous fires in November 1701 and October 1705 brought him out of retirement to oversee needed re-construction, he was ever involved in charitable work for the poor, and available to consult with his successor.
• Laval University in Quebec is named for him.
Today’s Catholic Quote:
François de Montmorency Laval was born on 30 April 1623 in Montigny-sur-Avre, Normandy, France and died on 6 May 1708 in Quebec, Canada of natural causes
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