QUEBEC
596
QUEBEC
Alex. McDonell. On his visit to the maritime prov-
inces in 1803, he confirmed S800 people. The
primary school founded by Abbe Brassard at Nicolet
he made a classical school (1803), now the seminary
of Nicolet. His generous contributions to the new
college of the Suplicians (1804-5) also show his de-
votion to education.
(11) Joseph-Octave Plessis (q. v.), consecrated Bishop of Canathe in 1801, Bishop of Quebec from 1806 to 1825. His great achievement was the organi- zation of the Church in Canada in which he was prov- identially aided by the .\merican invasion of 1812-13. After the treaty of Ghent (1814) he was for the first time officially acknowledged as Cathohc Bishop of Quebec, and granted by the king an annuity of £1000. He obtained from Rome, besides the erection of the Vicariate Apostolic of Nova Scotia (1817), the
appointment of bishops for Upper Canada, JNIontreal, New Brunswick, including Prince Edward's and the Magdalen Islands, and for the North- West, where the Abbes Provencher and Dumoulin had begun (1818) the mission of the Red River. England assented, but on the express condi- tion that these bishops would be only auxiliaries and vicars-general of Quebec. He also obtained from the pope not to use, while the Govern- ment objected, the title of archbishop granted to him in 1819. All the new- prelates were con- secrated by him on his return: McDonell (1820), McEachern and Lartigue (1821), Provencher (1822). He ordained 114 priests, preserved the college of Nicolet, and encouraged St. Hyacinth College, begun by Abbe Girouard (1811). Like his predecessors, he firmly opposed the royal institution which placed education in Protestant hands, and endeavoured to obtain Catholic primary schools. A more favourable law was voted in 1824. As a member of the Legislative Council from 1817, he had great influence. In 1822 he contributed to prevent the union of the Canadas intended bv the English House of Commons.
(12) Bernard-Claude Panet, b. 1753; d. 1833, parish priest of Riviere-Ouelle, consecrated Bishop of Saldes and coadjutor of Quebec (1807), was bishop from 1825 to 1833. The chief events of his adminis- tration were: the building of Nicolet College (1827), to which he contributed the sum, large for the time, of $32,000; the foundation of the College of Ste-.\nne- de-la-Pocatiere (1827) by the .\bbe Painchaud; the educational law of 1829 which granted allowances for the creation of parish schools and the maintenance of colleges, convents, and academies already in existence; the erection in Quebec, with his help, of St. Patrick's church for the Iri.sh; the .-iale to the Government of the episcopal palace b\ult by Mgr Briand. .\n annual rent of £1000 was paid, which, although irredeemable, wa.s riMlei'ined in 1888 by the sura of 874,074, given to Cardinal Taschereau.
(13) Josei)h Signay, b. 1778; d. 1850, Bishop of
Monument to Montca
ON THE Heights
Quebec
Fussala and coadjutor of Quebec (1827), administrator
(1832), bishop (1833), archbishop from 1844 to 1850.
There were epidemics of cholera in 1832, 1834, and
1849. Quebec was almost entirely destroyed by fire
in 1845. In 1847 tj-phus visited the Irish exiles at
Grosse-Ile. Among many priests deserving grateful
memory must be mentioned the Abbe Felix Cazeau,
then secretary to the bishop and afterwards vicar-
general, who found homes for nearly five hundred
Irish orphans. Important events were: the law on
education (1841) which allowed the election of school
commissioners having power to build new schools, to
choose teachers and raise funds therefor; the erection
of Quebec (1844) into a metropolis with three suf-
fragan sees, Kingston, Montreal, and Toronto; the Ob-
lates (1844) and the Jesuits (1849) admitted into the di-
ocese and charged respectively with the Saguenay mis-
sion and the Sodality of the Blessed ^'irgin of the Upper-
Town ; societies for the Propagation of the Faith (1837),
colonization (1838), and temperance (1843). The
report of Bishop Signay to the Holy See in 1843
states that the diocese contained 200,000 Catholics,
145 churches and chapels, 4 orders of nuns, and 3 col-
leges or seminaries. In the Red River mission, under
Bishop Provencher, out of 5140 souls, more than
2700 were Cathohcs. Vicar-General Norbert Blan-
chet and Modeste Demers had opened (1838) the
mission of British Columbia, while other missionaries
worked among the Indians of Lake .\bbittibi. Bishop
Signay was the last to receive the annuity of £1000
granted to Mgr Plessis. In 1847 he entered the
present episcopal palace.
(14) Pierre-Flavien Tui-geon, b. 1787; d. 1867, elected in 1831 and consecrated in 1834 Bishop of Sydime and coadjutor of Quebec, became admin- istrator in 1849, and bishop in 1850. That same year a meeting of the bishops at Montreal prepared the first Council of Quebec, held in 1851 under his presi- dency. After dhections on liturgy and discipline, against social and moral dangers, its most important decree is that on Catholic universities and normal schools, which gave birth (1852) to Laval University and to Laval Normal School in 1857. Pius IX was also petitioned to form new sees. St. Hyacinth and Three Rivers were erected in 18.52, while Halifax be- came a metropolis. A second council took place at Quebec in 1854. The foundation of the Quebec Sis- ters of Charity (1849) and of the Good Shepherd (1850), the reorganization of ecclesiastical conferences, the publication of a new catechism and the approval of Butler's for English-speaking Catholics are the chief acts of Bishop Turgeou's administration. In 1855, owing to ill-health, he left the administration of the diocese to his coadjutor.
(15) Charles-Francois Baillargeon (q. v.), as parish priest of Quebec (1831-50), procured for his parish the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and established the conferences of St. Vincent de Paul. As bishop, the great events of his administration were the third (1863) and fourth (1868) Councils of Quebec, at- tended by the suffragan Bishops of Montreal, Ottawa, St. Boniface, Three Rivers, St. Hyacinth, Hamilton, Sandwich (now London), Kingston, Toronto, and (in 1868) Rimouski. Besides several discipUnary decrees, the erection of the ecclesiastical provinces of Toronto and St. Boniface was decided and a petition was added for the canonization of Sister Marie de I'lncarnation, foundress of the Quebec Ursulines. Bishop Baillargeon attended the Vatican Council (1869), but was forced by ill-health to return before voting for papal infallibility, which he favoured. He died soon after. He had con- secrated five bishops and ordainefl one hundred and ninety priests.
(16) Elzear-.\lexandre Taschereau, b. 1820; d. 1898, for several years teacher of philosophy in the sem- inary, and was one of the founders of Laval University; he was rector (1860-6), and again, in 1869, \'icar-
