VILLENEUVE, JEAN-MARIE-RODRIGUE. – Cardinal, b. in Montréal (Canada) on 2 Nov. 1883, d. in Alhambra (California) on 17 Jan. 1947.
Oblate of Mary Immaculate (1901), he taught at the Catholic University of Ottawa until 1930, when he was elected Bishop of Gravelbourg; he was then transferred to the archiepiscopal see of Québec on 11 Dec. 1931, where he remained until his death. Pius XI created him cardinal on 13 Mar. 1933. He served as papal legate three times: to Québec (1938), to Domrémy (1939), and to Mexico City (1945). In 1946, Pius XII appointed him a member of the Congregations of the Sacraments, of Propaganda, and of the Consistory.
V. is one of the most distinguished ecclesiastics Canada has produced. A profound theologian and convinced Thomist, he influenced the development of higher studies in the country and within the Congregation. He took a keen interest in missionary work, social issues, and in particular the labor question, contributing to the promotion of the Church’s social doctrine and earning widespread popularity not only among his compatriots but also in the United States and Europe. Among his many writings, the following deserve mention: Entretiens liturgiques (1937); Petite année liturgique (2 vols., 1944); Pages d'introduction à l'étude du droit canonique (1944); a volume of pastoral letters from Gravelbourg (1932); three volumes (1936–44) of pastoral letters and directives as Archbishop of Québec; a new edition of the Discipline diocésaine du diocèse de Québec (1937); Acta et decreta Synodi diocesanae Quebecensis; and finally L'un des vôtres. Paul-Emile Lavallée (1928, 2nd ed. 1945).