The New Student's Reference Work/Taschereau, His Eminence Elezear Alexander

Taschereau (ta′sh’-rō′), His Eminence Elezear Alexander, the first Canadian cardinal, was born at Ste. Marie-de-la-Beauce, Quebec, Feb. 17, 1820, his father being a judge of the queen’s bench and his mother the daughter of the speaker of the first legislative assembly of Canada. He was educated at Quebec and Grand Seminaries, ordained in 1842, for four years a professor, later director and at last superior of Grand Seminary, and in 1860 director of Laval University as well. Vicar-general of the archdiocese of Quebec in 1863, he was consecrated archbishop in 1871 and elevated to the cardinalate in 1886. He died in Quebec, April 12, 1898.