TASCHEREAU, ELZÉAR-ALEXANDRE. - Cardinal, b. at Ste-Marie de la Beauce (province of Québec) on 17 Feb. 1820, d. at Québec on 12 Apr. 1898.
Descended from an ancient family of Touraine that had immigrated to Canada in the second decade of the 18th century, he began his studies at the Seminary of Québec in 1828. In 1847 he assisted Irish emigrants afflicted by typhus on Grosse Island; having escaped death, he came to Rome, where in 1856 he took a degree in canon law. Appointed in 1860 superior of the Seminary of Québec and rector of Laval University, he subsequently took part in the Ecumenical Council of 1870. Consecrated archbishop of Québec the following year, he was created cardinal by Leo XIII in 1886 and was the first Canadian to be invested with the purple, an event that gave rise to great demonstrations of joy and expressions of profound deference. In 1882 he had published the Remarques sur le Mémoire de l'évêque de Trois Rivières sur les difficultés religieuses en Canada.