Paul-Émile Léger

Paul -Émile Cardinal Léger PSS, CC, GOQ ( born April 25, 1904 in Salaberry -de- Valleyfield, Quebec, † November 13, 1991 in Montreal, Quebec ) was a Roman Catholic Cardinal and 1950-1967 Archbishop of Montreal.

Biography

Léger was ordained in 1929 in Montreal as a priest and went to France from 1930 to 1933 and from 1933 to 1939 to Japan, where he was administrator of the Sulpician Seminary in Fukuoka. During the Second World War, he returned to Canada. 1947 Léger was rector of the Pontifical Canadian College in Rome and remained so until his appointment as Archbishop of Montreal in 1950, when he, who had resigned Due to health reasons Joseph Charbonneau, succeeded.

Léger quickly gained a reputation as an eloquent orator and enjoyed Due to its exposure in religious and social matters a great recognition that reached beyond the borders of Quebec out. In the consistory on 12 January 1953, he was called by Pope Pius XII. elevated to cardinal. He was assigned the titular church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. He was papal legate in Lourdes (1954 ), St. Joseph's Oratory (1955) and in Sainte -Anne -de- Beaupré (1958). Prior to the Second Council Vatikanischem he belonged to one of the preparatory commissions as a member. After his return Léger campaigned for the implementation of Council decisions in his diocese. In 1967, he resigned as Archbishop down to take care in West Africa as a simple priest to lepers and makeshift. After the realization of various projects, he returned to Montreal August 1979 and continued his humanitarian work continued, including through the support of Asian refugees. He took part in the two conclaves of 1978. Since 1989 he was Cardinal Proto priest serving as the senior cardinal priest. He died in 1991 as the last cardinal by Pope Pius XII. was created.

His brother Jules Léger was 1974-1979 Governor General of Canada.

Awards

Cardinal Léger received many honors in his life. More than 10 Canadian universities awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1958 he received the Grande Croix of the Légion d' honneur the Legion of Honour and in 1968 was awarded the Order of Canada. As co-president of the Canadian Refugee Foundation received the 1979 Pearson Peace Medal Léger and 1980, the Lester B. Pearson Foundation award for peace. In 1983, he was the first winner of the Prix Maisonneuve was awarded by the Société Saint -Jean -Baptiste de Montréal. 1985 Léger grand officer of the Ordre national du Québec was.

He was Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy grave in Jerusalem and a member of the Order of Malta.