QUEBEC, Archdiocese of. - Archdiocese and city in the province of Q. (Canada, North America).
Q. covers an area of 19,000 sq km with a total population of 632,100 inhabitants, of whom 622,000 are Catholics and almost all of French origin. There are 307 churches, 285 parishes, 1100 diocesan priests, 200 seminarians, 351 regular priests (from 18 different congregations), 39 female congregations, 7 classical colleges, 1 university, 1 apostolic school, 8 minor seminaries, 1 seminary for late vocations, 47 hospitals and charitable institutions.
(modern photographs E.N.B.G., Québec)
The history of the archdiocese of Q. marks at the same time the history of Catholicism in Canada and also in the whole of North America. The first European to reach this place was Jacques Cartier, and the city of Q. was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. The first missionaries to arrive at Q., at Champlain's request, were the Recollects, who from 1615 had a chapel at Q., and a convent in 1620-21. Shortly afterward, in 1625, the Jesuits joined them. In 1617 the faithful numbered between 50-60, and in 1629 between 40-60. The missionaries depended directly on the Holy See. In 1629, after the English conquest, the missionaries were forced to leave the mission. In the year of the restoration to France (1632) only the Jesuits returned to Q.; at that time the bishop of Rouen extended his jurisdiction over the colony. In 1633 the Jesuits opened the first college in North America, and the Ursulines arrived in 1639. On March 11, 1658, the apostolic vicariate of New France was erected. Since the Jesuits had refused, according to their Rule, to provide the first bishop, Msgr. François de Montmorency-Laval (v.) was appointed by Alexander VII as apostolic vicar with the title of bishop of Petra. Msgr. Laval, consecrated on Dec. 8, 1658, arrived at Q. on June 21, 1659. A residence, called "the seminary," was built in 1662, and a minor seminary was founded in 1668. The students of the Seminary of the Infant Jesus followed the courses of the Jesuit college. The first parish of Q. was erected in 1664, and the parish church, begun in 1647 and consecrated in 1688, became the cathedral. In his first report to Rome (1660) the bishop counted 26 priests, 16 Jesuits, 8 churches and chapels at Q., 3 at Montréal, Trois-Rivières and Tadoussac, and 2000 inhabitants.
In 1664 the King of France asked Rome to erect Q. as a diocese, which was granted in 1670 by decree of the S. Congr. of Prop. Fide and by papal bull of Oct. 1, 1674. The diocese included the entire territory of New France in America, that is, Canada, Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Acadia, St. John's Island, the whole Mississippi country and Louisiana. After the Treaty of Paris (1783) the bishop of Q. retained all of Canada and Newfoundland. In 1683 there were in Canada 10,278 Catholics, 600 in Acadia and 1512 natives converted to the faith; in 1686, 44 priests, 12 seminarians in theology, 43 Jesuits, 12
Recollects, 28 Ursulines, 26 Hospitallers de la Merci de Jésus, 16 Hospitallers of St. Joseph and 13 sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady. In 1684 Msgr. de Laval resigned; he later returned to Canada, where he died in 1708.
The diocese was elevated by Pius VII to an archdiocese on Jan. 12, 1819; there were then 500,000 Catholics. Q. was several times divided, to create the other dioceses of Canada. The last division occurred on June 23, 1951, to form the diocese of Ste-Anne de la Pocatière. In 1852, the seminary of Q. founded the famous Laval University (v. below).
The first archbishop of Q. elevated to the sacred Roman purple was Msgr. Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (1871-98). Q. had three other cardinals: Louis-Nazaire Bégin (1898-1925), Raymond-Marie Rouleau O. P. (1926-1931) and J.-M. Rodrigue Villeneuve of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (1931-47).
Famous is the shrine of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré, which dates back to the 17th century; from 1675 it had a grand development.
Bibliography4 works
LAVAL UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1852 for the Seminary of Q., at the request of the first provincial Council, it received its civil charter from Queen Victoria on 8 Dec. 1852 and the following year from Pius IX the apostolic brief, which gave the archbishop of Q. the faculty of granting the degree of doctor in theology to ecclesiastical students; and in 1876 the bull Inter varias sollecitudines, which canonically erected it.
In the same year, by decision of the S. Congr. of Prop. Fide, the University founded several chairs at Montréal under the name of "Succursale"; on 2 Feb. 1889, the brief "Jamdudum" gave the succursale a greater independence from Q.; finally, on 8 May 1919, the S. Congr. of Seminaries and Universities established at Montréal an independent university, to which on 14 Feb. 1920 the government of Q. granted civil recognition; it thus became the University of Montréal (v.).
The programs of Laval University were remade according to the requirements of the apostolic constitution Deus scientiarum Dominus and the University was again approved on 8 Sept. 1936. At the time of its foundation, the University had only four faculties: theology, law, medicine and arts. Today, 100 years later, it possesses 10 faculties with numerous annexed schools: the graduate school, the faculties of theology, of philosophy, of law, of medicine (with the institutes of cancer, of physiology and the school for nurses), the faculty of arts (with the schools of music, of pedagogy, of domestic sciences), the faculty of Letters (with the institute of history and geography), the faculty of sciences (with the school of pharmacy), the faculty of agriculture (with the school of fishing), the faculty of social sciences (with the schools of social service, of commerce and the center of popular culture) and the faculty of surveying and of forest engineering. There are moreover summer courses.
During the academic year 1950-51, the students numbered 16,907, of whom 3,576 were in the university courses, 651 in the graduate school and 1,937 were unclassified students; the professors number 750, of whom 150 are exclusively dedicated to teaching. The Library possesses 374,290 volumes. The Canadian collection is particularly rich.
The University is directed by a royal visitor and apostolic chancellor, by a magnificent rector, by a supreme supervisory council composed of the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Q. and by a university council. Laval University has made much progress since 1920 and the number of students has made an entire building program necessary. To this end the authorities have decided on the erection of a university city already in full development and a popular subscription begun in 1948 yielded the sum of 10,600,000 dollars. The celebration of the centenary recurrence in Sept. 1952 was most solemn. - See plates XII-XIII. Gastone Carrière
