François de Laval
Encyclopedia
This article is in part a sermon and generally comes close to hagiography.
Blessed François-Xavier de Montmorency-Laval (30 April 1623 – 6 May 1708) was the first Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec and was one of the most influential men of his day. He was appointed when he was 36 years old by Pope Alexander VII
. He was a member of the Montmorency family
. He was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II
and was able to speak to the king of France Louis XIV.
(in partibus Infidelium), and Vicar Apostolic of New France
, was the result of a quarrel between the Sulpicians, who actively aided the French government and its special interest groups in all its endeavours, and the Jesuits, who sought a more neutral ground. The Jesuits, who were very active in New France, did not want to work under a bishop who would have been a tool of Paris and the Sulpicians. They obtained a Papal Bull
naming Laval in partibus bishop of Petra
, a diocese at the time in Muslim
lands, since the population of New France was too small to justify a diocese. He sailed from La Rochelle
for New France on 13 April 1659. His first mission was to get his authority recognized. He didn't have to fight for that right, however, because Louis XIV
wrote a letter to the governor ordering that Laval's authority be recognized everywhere. His next mission was to organize the church. He returned to France in 1662 to consult with Louis XIV and returned to New France with increased powers.
in 1668, followed by a school of arts and trades in St. Joachim
and numerous parishes, but without a doubt his pastoral visitations will be at the heart of his pastoral action. He visited parishes for confirmations, even where there are only three of four families.
The Séminaire de Québec after the British conquest, accepted, in 1765, lay students in his school for young people and founded the Université Laval
, in 1852, which was named in honour of Laval. In 1674, Laval was named the first bishop of Quebec
. By educating priests locally, keeping their parish appointments at pleasure instead of by permanent appointment, and by undertaking the construction of schools and churches, Laval created a strong local infrastructure independent of Paris. He organized a parochial system which increased the number of parishes from five in 1659 to 35 in 1688, which would include 102 clergymen. He encouraged missionary activity, especially if it was to be conducted by the Jesuits.
Laval was inflexible and zealous but knew when to compromise, in exceptional circumstances. He waged continuous warfare against the liquor trade with aboriginal peoples
and interfered constantly in other matters whenever he saw questions of morality and religion being trampled. He eventually would be unsuccessful in ending the liquor trade with aboriginals. He was known to have had repeated disagreements with the governors of the colony that were of moral and political matters.
In 1684, he went to France to resign his bishopric.
He returned to New France with the permission of his successor, Bishop Saint-Vallier
and went to live in and participate in the religious life of the Séminaire de Québec. Bishop de Laval often still performed episcopal functions when Saint-Vallier was not in New France. Laval died in 1708 from a chilblain
infection on his heel.
Disappropriation is nothing else but the Gospel lived in a radical fashion. Laval gives this disappropriation a moral sense of self-denial, of course. Thus, disappropriation includes the values of self-denial, poverty, humility since it remains always a certain form of deprivation, but the essence of disappropriation for Laval resided first in sharing and common disposal of goods. He wanted, writes Bertrand de la Tour, "the whole clergy to form but a large family" and it is for that reason that he asked that one should never abandon the "disappropriation which leaves everything in common in the hands of the superior".
he had 95 children
The outcome of disappropriation produces an increasing freedom and openness to God's action. As Laval advances in age, the fruits of a loving openness to God's will through daily events are manifested in a growing constancy, patience and abandon. It is this "confident faith experience" that Laval lived throughout his life. It is at the heart of his spiritual experience. "For a long time, God has given me the grace to look at everything that happens to me in this life as an effect of his Providence", he writes in 1687. In the main events of his life, François de Laval quickly looks for their spiritual meaning, either for his pastoral work, or in his personal spiritual itinerary. This "experience of Providence", so to speak, would not be complete unless it stirred up a response. This response is abandon: "It is only right… that we should live only a life of pure abandon in all that concerns us inside as well as outside", he will say after the king's refusal to let him leave for Canada in 1687.
Laval gives the example of a shepherd who was totally dedicated to his task in a daily and durable fidelity. Upon his death in 1708, he was leaving a reputation of "a shepherd filled with the spirit of the apostles" (Monsieur Glandelet).
Pope Alexander VII
Pope Alexander VII , born Fabio Chigi, was Pope from 7 April 1655, until his death.- Early life :Born in Siena, a member of the illustrious banking family of Chigi and a great-nephew of Pope Paul V , he was privately tutored and eventually received doctorates of philosophy, law, and theology from...
. He was a member of the Montmorency family
Montmorency family
Montmorency, pronounced , the name of one of the oldest and most distinguished families in France, derived from the city of Montmorency, now in the Val-d'Oise département, in the immediate neighborhood of Enghien-les-Bains and Saint-Denis, about 9 miles northwest of Paris.The family, since its...
. He was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
and was able to speak to the king of France Louis XIV.
Bishop : the Father of the Canadian Church
His nomination in 1658 as Bishop of PetraPetra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
(in partibus Infidelium), and Vicar Apostolic of New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
, was the result of a quarrel between the Sulpicians, who actively aided the French government and its special interest groups in all its endeavours, and the Jesuits, who sought a more neutral ground. The Jesuits, who were very active in New France, did not want to work under a bishop who would have been a tool of Paris and the Sulpicians. They obtained a Papal Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
naming Laval in partibus bishop of Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
, a diocese at the time in Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
lands, since the population of New France was too small to justify a diocese. He sailed from La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
for New France on 13 April 1659. His first mission was to get his authority recognized. He didn't have to fight for that right, however, because Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
wrote a letter to the governor ordering that Laval's authority be recognized everywhere. His next mission was to organize the church. He returned to France in 1662 to consult with Louis XIV and returned to New France with increased powers.
The founder
This gave him the right to create the Seminary of Quebec and a Sovereign Council. In 1663 Laval founded the Séminaire de Québec, a society of diocesan priests called "Séminaire des Missions-Étrangères de Québec" that he united to the one in Paris of which he had been one of the founders. His seminary was destined to be at the heart of the life and organization of the Church of Canada: training ground for future priests, future diocesan chapter, organizational center of the parishes whose pastors are appointed by the bishop and the directors of the Seminary. He also founded the Confraternity of the Holy Family, erected on March 14, 1665, a Minor SeminaryPetit Séminaire de Québec
Le Petit Séminaire de Québec is a private French-language Roman Catholic secondary school in the Vieux-Québec area of Quebec City which was originally part of the Séminaire de Québec...
in 1668, followed by a school of arts and trades in St. Joachim
Saint-Joachim, Quebec
Saint-Joachim is a parish municipality in Quebec, Canada. It is part of the La Côte-de-Beaupré Regional County Municipality in the Capitale-Nationale region. Located at the foot of Cape Tourmente, it is home to the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area....
and numerous parishes, but without a doubt his pastoral visitations will be at the heart of his pastoral action. He visited parishes for confirmations, even where there are only three of four families.
The Séminaire de Québec after the British conquest, accepted, in 1765, lay students in his school for young people and founded the Université Laval
Université Laval
Laval University is the oldest centre of education in Canada and was the first institution in North America to offer higher education in French...
, in 1852, which was named in honour of Laval. In 1674, Laval was named the first bishop of Quebec
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec
The Archdiocese of Québec is the oldest Catholic see in the New World north of Mexico. The archdiocese was founded as the Apostolic Vicariate of New France in 1658 and was elevated to a Diocese in 1674 and an Archdiocese in 1819...
. By educating priests locally, keeping their parish appointments at pleasure instead of by permanent appointment, and by undertaking the construction of schools and churches, Laval created a strong local infrastructure independent of Paris. He organized a parochial system which increased the number of parishes from five in 1659 to 35 in 1688, which would include 102 clergymen. He encouraged missionary activity, especially if it was to be conducted by the Jesuits.
Laval was inflexible and zealous but knew when to compromise, in exceptional circumstances. He waged continuous warfare against the liquor trade with aboriginal peoples
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
and interfered constantly in other matters whenever he saw questions of morality and religion being trampled. He eventually would be unsuccessful in ending the liquor trade with aboriginals. He was known to have had repeated disagreements with the governors of the colony that were of moral and political matters.
In 1684, he went to France to resign his bishopric.
Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier
Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrière de St. Vallier was appointed to the see of Quebec as bishop in 1685 by Louis XIV. But, Blessed Pope Innocent XI was not granting any more bulls of investiture....
and went to live in and participate in the religious life of the Séminaire de Québec. Bishop de Laval often still performed episcopal functions when Saint-Vallier was not in New France. Laval died in 1708 from a chilblain
Chilblain
Chilblains are a medical condition that is often confused with frostbite and trench foot. Chilblains are acral ulcers that occur when a predisposed individual is exposed to cold and humidity. The cold exposure damages capillary beds in the skin, which in turn can cause redness, itching, blisters,...
infection on his heel.
Spirituality
The spirituality of Laval is marked by a detachment which was a feature of his temperament. He had acquired this from Monsieur de Bernières during his years spent in Caen. This detachment is "a great system of disappropriation" which can be summed up in the following maxim: "We have no better friend than Jesus-Christ. Let us follow all his recommendations, especially those on humiliation and disappropriation of the heart" as writes his first biographer, Bertrand de la Tour.Disappropriation is nothing else but the Gospel lived in a radical fashion. Laval gives this disappropriation a moral sense of self-denial, of course. Thus, disappropriation includes the values of self-denial, poverty, humility since it remains always a certain form of deprivation, but the essence of disappropriation for Laval resided first in sharing and common disposal of goods. He wanted, writes Bertrand de la Tour, "the whole clergy to form but a large family" and it is for that reason that he asked that one should never abandon the "disappropriation which leaves everything in common in the hands of the superior".
he had 95 children
The outcome of disappropriation produces an increasing freedom and openness to God's action. As Laval advances in age, the fruits of a loving openness to God's will through daily events are manifested in a growing constancy, patience and abandon. It is this "confident faith experience" that Laval lived throughout his life. It is at the heart of his spiritual experience. "For a long time, God has given me the grace to look at everything that happens to me in this life as an effect of his Providence", he writes in 1687. In the main events of his life, François de Laval quickly looks for their spiritual meaning, either for his pastoral work, or in his personal spiritual itinerary. This "experience of Providence", so to speak, would not be complete unless it stirred up a response. This response is abandon: "It is only right… that we should live only a life of pure abandon in all that concerns us inside as well as outside", he will say after the king's refusal to let him leave for Canada in 1687.
Laval gives the example of a shepherd who was totally dedicated to his task in a daily and durable fidelity. Upon his death in 1708, he was leaving a reputation of "a shepherd filled with the spirit of the apostles" (Monsieur Glandelet).
See also
- Paris Foreign Missions SocietyParis Foreign Missions SocietyThe Society of Foreign Missions of Paris is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious order, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands....
- Shadows on the RockShadows on the RockShadows on the Rock is a novel by the American writer Willa Cather, published in 1931. The novel covers one year of the lives of Cecile Auclair and her father Euclide, French colonists in Quebec...
: Willa CatherWilla CatherWilla Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
novel in which Bishops de Laval and Saint-Vallier appear as characters