Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec

The Archdiocese of Québec (Latin: Archidioecesis Quebecensis, French: Archidiocèse de Québec) is the oldest Catholic see in the New World north of Mexico. The archdiocese was founded as the Apostolic Vicariate of New France in 1658 and was elevated to a Diocese in 1674 and an Archdiocese in 1819. It lost large pieces of its territory with the formation of the Dioceses of Halifax and Kingston in 1817, the Diocese of Charlottetown in 1829, the Diocese of St. Boniface in 1844 and the Diocese of Montreal (see Bishops of Montreal) in 1852. The Archbishop of Quebec has the ceremonial title of Primate of Canada, ever since 24 January 1956; the title was given to the reigning Archbishop of Quebec by the Venerable Servant of God Pope Pius XII. It is common, but not inherent to the title, for the Archbishops of Quebec to either be named to the cardinalate while serving or when transferred to a larger archdiocese or to a post in the Roman Curia.

The archdiocese's cathedral is Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral in Quebec City. The archdiocese has a total area of 35,180 square miles, and contains a total population of 1,192,108, with 1,027,166 Catholics on its rolls, in 227 parishes. It is served by 737 priests, 91 permanent deacons, and 3,515 religious.

On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, Vatican Information Service (VIS) and Catholic News Service (CNS), announced that the Holy Father, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, had named the 53-year-old Bishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, until then an Auxiliary Bishop (assistant bishop) of Quebec (since 2009), as the new Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec and Primate of Canada. As Archbishop, he succeeds His Eminence, Marc Cardinal Ouellet, his former superior, who became the Prefect of one of the Roman Curia's most important administrative departments, the Sacred Congregation for Bishops, in July 2010. Archbishop-elect Lacroix is a member of the Quebec-based Saint Pope Pius X Secular Institute. Archbishop Lacroix was born in Saint-Hilaire de Dorset, Quebec, on July 27, 1957, the eldest son in a family of seven children. At the age of 8, his family settled in Manchester, New Hampshire's largest city, where he attended the parochial elementary school of Saint Anthony of Padua and Trinity High School. He studied one year at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. He joined the Pius X Secular Institute as a consecrated lay member in 1975, and made perpetual vows in 1982. The same year, he was named secretary general of the institute. He earned a master's degree in pastoral theology at Laval University, and from 1985 to 1987, directed the La Maison du Renouveau, a formation and Christian renewal center. He was ordained a priest on October 8, 1988, in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-la-Recouvrance. He was ordained to the episcopacy as Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec on May 24, 2009.

On the same day, Pope Benedict XVI also appointed another Quebec Auxiliary Bishop, Gilles Lemay, 63, as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amos, Quebec, leaving Paul Lortie as the only Auxiliary Bishop. On Monday, December 12, 2011, Pope Benedict appointed the Reverend Fathers Gaetan Proulx, O.S.M., and Denis Grondin, Jr. as Auxiliary Bishops-elect of the Archdiocese of Quebec to serve under Archbishop Lacroix along with Auxiliary Bishop Lortie. The date has not been set yet for their episcopal ordinations, and details were not clear on their backgrounds.^[1]

List of bishops

1. Bishop François de Montmorency-Laval (1658–1688)
2. Bishop Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier ^[2] (1688–1727)
3. Bishop Louis-François Duplessis de Mornay (1727–1733)
4. Bishop Pierre-Herman Dosquet (1733–1739)
5. Bishop François-Louis de Pourroy de Lauberivière (1739–1740)
6. Bishop Henri-Marie Dubreil de Pontbriand (1741–1760)
7. Bishop Jean-Olivier Briand (1766–1784)
8. Bishop Louis-Philippe Mariauchau d’Esgly (1784–1788)
9. Bishop Jean-François Hubert (1788–1797)
10. Bishop Pierre Denaut (1797–1806)
11. Archbishop Joseph-Octave Plessis (1806–1825)
12. Archbishop Bernard-Claude Panet (1825–1833)
13. Archbishop Joseph Signay (1833–1850)
14. Archbishop Pierre-Flavien Turgeon (1850–1867)
15. Archbishop Charles-François Baillargeon (1855–1870) ^[3]
16. Cardinal Archbishop Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (1871–1898)
17. Cardinal Archbishop Louis Nazaire Bégin (1898–1925)
18. Archbishop Paul-Eugène Roy (1925–1926)
19. Cardinal Archbishop Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau (1926–1931)
20. Cardinal Archbishop Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve (1931–1947)
21. Cardinal Archbishop Maurice Roy (1947–1981)
22. Cardinal Archbishop Louis-Albert Vachon (1981–1990)
23. Archbishop Maurice Couture (1990–2002)
24. Cardinal Archbishop Marc Ouellet (2002–2010)
25. Archbishop Gérald Lacroix, ISPX (2011–present)

Former dioceses

Several dioceses under Quebec have been created and some have become Archidocese:

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston - became a Diocese in 1826 and Archdiocese in 1889
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto - formerly under the Diocese of Kingston, Dicocese of Toronto 1826 and Archdiocese 1870

References

1. ^ http://translate.google.com/translate?tl=en&sourceid=ie8-activity&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpress.catholica.va%2Fnews_services%2Fbulletin%2Fnews%2F28529.php%3Findex%3D28529%26lang%3Den
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia article

External links

• (French) Official site
• Archdiocese of Quebec on the Catholic Encyclopedia