Ignace Bourget

Ignace Bourget ( born October 30, 1799 in Lévis, † June 8, 1885 in Sault -au- Recollet (now part of Montreal ) ) was a Roman Catholic bishop in Canada. He stood from 1840 to 1876 the diocese of Montreal before. He was known for his pronounced ultramontane attitude.

Biography

Bourget studied theology at Petit séminaire in Quebec City in 1822 and received priestly ordination. Subsequently, he was secretary of Jean -Jacques Lartigue, Bishop of Montréal. 1837 he was appointed by Pope Gregory XVI. against the will of Sulpizianerordens titular bishop of Telmissus and Coadjutor. During the rebellion of 1837, he publicly condemned the rebels of Lower Canada, led by his cousin Louis -Joseph Papineau, as they spread his opinion dangerous liberal ideas. On April 19, 1840, he resigned after Lartigue death its successor as Bishop of Montréal.

To counter the increasing competition of Protestant missionaries campaigned Bourget in France numerous members of various religious communities to mainly Oblates and Jesuits. The previously weakly organized diocese received new structures and coined a few years almost the whole Francophone education and health care. Bourget founded several charities and has written numerous writings in which he spread a decidedly ultramontane worldview. Again and again he came into conflict with liberal circles and refused some members of scientific societies even the funeral because these companies had books that were on the index.

1852, the Cathedral Saint- Jacques in Montreal was destroyed by a major fire. After more than two decades of planning the work (now the Cathedral Marie -Reine -du- Monde de Montréal) began on a new building in 1875 and was only completed in 1894.

Bourget often interfered in politics. So he tried unsuccessfully in 1871 to prevent the separation of church and state in New Brunswick. But his efforts have meant that such measures were made in the province of Quebec until 1964. Louis Riel, the leader of the Métis during the Red River Rebellion, received from him in exile emotional support.

Bourget wanted to found a university in Montréal, but under pressure from the Archbishop of Quebec, Pope Pius IX. merely a branch of the Université de Laval. Then Bourget became effective on June 26, 1876 back as a bishop and was appointed Titular Archbishop of Marcianopolis.