François de Laval

François de Montmorency -Laval ( born April 30, 1623 Montigny -sur -Avre at Chartres; † May 6, 1708 in Quebec City ), from the line of the French family Montmorency Laval, the first Roman Catholic bishop was in Quebec City ( Canada). He was the son of Hugues de Montmorency -Laval, Lord of Montigny, and Michelle de Péricard. The priest always signed only by the name of François de Laval and introduced himself never named Montmorency. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Biography

François de Laval was elected Vicar Apostolic of New France and was born on June 16, 1659 in Quebec City, after he was ordained on December 8, 1658 at the Abbey of Saint- Germain -des- Prés titular bishop of Petra in Palestine. On March 26, 1663, he founded " La communauté du Séminaire de Québec of prêtres " ( " The communion of the priests of the Seminary of Quebec " ), emerged from the Le Grand Séminaire de Québec. In 1668 they opened a residential complex for future priests, " Le Petit Seminaire de Quebec ", from which, after the British conquest in 1765 was a public college.

He was a tireless priest. Under very difficult conditions, he made ​​three trips to France. He wandered in the canoe, on foot and on snowshoes all his diocese from which stretched from the shores of the Saint Lawrence River as far as Acadia and to the Mississippi, to visit the local people. He took care of it also specifically to the Indians, whose dignity he defended by the merchants fought back to them alcohol ( " eau de vie" ) gave, in order to subsequently exploit.

Twice, in 1663 and in 1682, he was provisional Governor-General of New France. He died on 6 May 1708, and was buried, and was buried in Notre Dame de Quebec Basilica. There, his bishopric was.

He is named after the city of Laval and Laval University in Quebec City. François de Laval was beatified on 22 June 1980 by Pope John Paul II. François de Laval was the model for the same character in Willa Cather's novel Shadows on the Rock, New York 1931 ( German Shadows on the Rock, Zurich 1956). On April 3, 2014, Pope Francis was taken up in the list of saints of the Catholic Church.