QUÉBEC, ARCHDIOCESE OF
Quebec, Archdiocese of — Archdiocese and city in the province of Quebec (Canada), North America.
Quebec covers an area of 19,000 sq. km. with a population of 600,000, of whom 500,000 are Catholic. The archdiocese has 220 secular priests, 150 religious priests, 1,000 sisters belonging to various congregations (400 of the Ursulines, 28 of the Recollects, 26 of the Hospitalières de la Miséricorde de Jésus, 16 of the Hospitalières de Saint Joseph, and 13 of the Congregation of Our Lady), and 1,000 seminarians. In 1684, Msgr. de Laval resigned; he later returned to Canada, where he died in 1708.
The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese by Pius VII on January 12, 1819, at which time there were 500,000 Catholics. Quebec has been divided several times to create other dioceses in Canada. The most recent division occurred on June 23, 1951, to form the Diocese of Saint Anne de la Pocatière. In 1852, the Seminary of Quebec founded the renowned Laval University (see below).
The first archbishop of Quebec elevated to the Roman purple was Msgr. Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (1871–98). Quebec has had three other cardinals: Louis-Nazaire Bégin (1898–1925), Raymond-Marie Rouleau, O.P. (1926–1931), and J.-M. Rodrigue Villeneuve, O.M.I. (1931–47).
The shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, dating back to the 17th century, is renowned and has experienced significant growth since 1675.
LAVAL UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1852 by the Seminary of Quebec at the request of the first provincial council, Laval University received its civil charter from Queen Victoria on December 8, 1852, and the following year from Pius IX the apostolic brief granting the archbishop of Quebec the authority to confer degrees in theology upon ecclesiastical students. In 1876, the bull *Inter varias sollicitudines* canonically erected the university.
In the same year, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, the university established several chairs in Montreal under the name "Branch." On February 2, 1880, the brief *Jamdudum* granted the branch greater independence from Quebec. Finally, on May 8, 1919, the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities established an independent university in Montreal, which received civil recognition from the government of Quebec on February 14, 1920, becoming the University of Montreal (see).
Laval University’s programs were revised in accordance with the apostolic constitution *Deus scientiarum Dominus*, and the university was again approved on September 8, 1936. At its founding, the university had only four faculties: theology, law, medicine, and arts. Today, a century later, it comprises ten faculties with numerous affiliated schools: the School of Graduate Studies; the Faculties of Theology, Philosophy, Law, and Medicine (with institutes for cancer research, physiology, and a school for nurses); the Faculty of Arts (with schools of music, pedagogy, and domestic sciences); the Faculty of Letters (with an institute of history and geography); the Faculty of Science (with a school of pharmacy); the Faculty of Agriculture (with a school of fisheries); the Faculty of Social Sciences (with schools of social work, commerce, and a center for popular culture); and the Faculty of Surveying and Forestry. Summer courses are also offered.
During the 1950–51 academic year, the university had 16,907 students, including 3,576 in university courses, 651 in the School of Graduate Studies, and 1,937 non-degree students. There were 750 professors, 150 of whom were exclusively dedicated to teaching. The library holds 374,290 volumes, with a particularly rich Canadian collection.
The university is governed by a royal visitor and apostolic chancellor, a rector magnificus, a supreme board of oversight composed of the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Quebec, and a university council. Laval University has made significant progress since 1920, and the increase in student numbers has necessitated an extensive construction program. To this end, the authorities have decided to establish a university city, which is already well underway.
Here, modern E.N.N.G., Quebec
and a public subscription launched in 1948 raised the sum of $10,600,