Villeneuve, Jean-Marie-Rodrigue

VILLENEUVE, JEAN-MARIE-RODRIGUE. - Cardinal, b. in Montreal (Canada) on 2 Nov. 1883, d. in Alhambra (California) on 17 Jan. 1947.

An Oblate of Mary Immaculate (1901), he taught at the Catholic University of Ottawa until 1930, when he was elected bishop of Gravelbourg, then transferred to the archiepiscopal see of Quebec on 11 Dec. 1931, where he remained until his death. Pius XI created him cardinal on 13 March 1933. He was legate three times: at Quebec (1938), at Domrémy (1939) and at Mexico City (1945). Pius XII, in 1946, appointed him a member of the Congregations of the Sacraments, of Propaganda and of the Council.

V. is one of the most illustrious churchmen Canada has had. A profound theologian and a convinced Thomist, he influenced the development of higher studies in the country and in his Congregation. He took an interest in missionary apostolate, in social questions, and in particular in the workers' problem, helping to promote the Church's social doctrine, so much so that he won wide popularity not only among his fellow countrymen but also in the United States and Europe. Of his many writings, the following should be remembered: Entretiens liturgiques (1937); Petite année liturgique (2 vols., 1944); Pages d'introduction à l'étude du droit canonique (1944); a vol. of pastoral letters at Gravelbourg (1932); three vols. (1936-44) of pastoral letters and decrees as archbishop of Quebec; a new ed. of the Discipline diocésaine du diocèse de Québec (1937); Acta et decreta Synodi diocesanae Quebecensis; finally L'un des vôtres. Paul-Emile Lavallée (1928, 2nd ed. 1945).