François de Laval

Laval was born on 30 April 1623 in Montigny-Sur-Avre in the ancient Province of Perche, now the Department of Eure-et-Loir.[1] His father, Hugues de Laval, a member of the House of Laval, was the Seigneur of Montigny, Montbaudry, Alaincourt and Revercourt.[2] His mother, Michelle de Péricard was from a family of hereditary officers of the Crown in Normandy.[2] Despite his noble descent, his parents were not considered to be wealthy. Montigny was considered equivalent to a good-sized market-town.[3] Laval had five other brothers and two sisters; two of these siblings would also pursue religious paths in life. His youngest brother, Henri, entered the Benedictine Order and his sister, Anne Charlotte, entered the Congregation of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.[3]

Throughout his life, Laval's mother continuously served as an example of piety and encouraged him to be charitable to those who were less fortunate.[2] Often described as destined for an ecclesiastical lifestyle, Laval was quickly recognized as a clear-sighted and intelligent boy. As a result, he was admitted into the "privileged ranks of those who comprised the Congregation of the Holy Virgin."[4] This was a society founded by the Jesuits, who aimed to inspire young people to adopt religious lifestyles, and encouraged regular prayer and spiritual practices. At the age of eight, Laval received the tonsure and took minor orders, which then allowed him to enter the College of La Flèche in 1631.[3] This institution was attended by the sons of the elite families in France; hence, Laval was guaranteed a good education. Moreover, it was during this period that Laval came into contact with reports of the Jesuit missions amongst the Huron in Canada, which influenced his desire to become a missionary, like his patron saint, Francis Xavier.[3] In 1637, Laval was appointed a canon of the Cathedral of Évreux by the Bishop of Évreux.[4]

This position proved to be of key importance after the death of Laval's father in September 1636, which left his family in a precarious financial situation.[5] It allowed him to receive revenue from the prebend attached to the position, without which he would have been unable to continue his education.[5] Once he completed his classical education at the age of nineteen, Laval left La Flèche to further pursue his education in philosophy and theology at the College de Clermont in Paris.[3]

Laval's plans were put on hold due to the death of his two eldest brothers; one having fallen at Freiburg and the other at Nordlingen, which effectively made him the head of the family[6] At this point, Laval was faced with the decision of abandoning his ecclesiastical career to take over his father's estate: "bringing him [...] together with a great name, a brilliant future."[6] In fact, his mother, the Bishop of Évreux, and his cousin all attempted to convince him to leave Paris and return home.[6] Nonetheless, Laval would not succumb to his family's pressure. Laval helped his mother set the family's affairs in order and arranged for a full renunciation of his rights of primogeniture, which would then be transferred to his brother Jean-Louis.[7]

Once this was complete, Laval returned to Paris where he delved into his studies and began the process of preparing himself to receive holy orders. On 1 May 1647, at the age of twenty four, Laval was ordained a priest.[8] Soon after this, the Bishop of Évreux began to feel remorse for his previous attempt to convince Laval to abandon his ecclesial path; hence, he decided to appoint him as the archdeacon of his diocese in December 1647.[3] This post required Laval to oversee the affairs of 155 parishes and four chapels. Laval was said to approach this task with fervour and enthusiasm.[3] In the following years, he devoted himself to establishing order in the parishes, providing relief for the poor, caring for the sick and engaging in different kinds of charitable activities. This same behaviour would be seen later on in his life, on a completely different continent.

Laval had dreamt of becoming a missionary to travel and preach the Gospel. When he was presented with the possibility of serving as a missionary in Asia, he resigned from his post as archdeacon in 1654.[9] Indeed, the noted Jesuit missionary, Alexandre de Rhodes, was looking for the Pope's permission to appoint candidates as Vicars Apostolic in Tonkin and Indochina.[3] He was sent to Rome where he remained for fifteen months.[9] Opposition by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, which oversaw the missionary work of the Catholic Church, and that of the Portuguese royal court jeopardized the mission which led to the project being discarded in 1654.[3]

Laval was now freed from all responsibility, and thus made the decision to prepare himself "by prayer, for the designs which God might have for him."[9] He traveled to Caen to stay at a spiritual retreat known as the Hermitage, operated by Jean de Bernières de Louvigny, who, though a layman, was a leader in the reform of the Catholic Church in France.[10] He also made the acquaintance of the founder's nephew, Henri de Bernières, who would later be an invaluable assistant in his work.

Laval remained there for three years, devoting himself to prayer and charitable activity. It is also during this time that he took on the responsibility of reforming a monastery whose morals were thought to be too lax, as well as becoming the administrator of two monasteries of nuns.[3] His dedication to these projects earned him commendation from François de Servien, the Bishop of Bayeux, who described him as a priest of great piety, prudent and of unusually great competence in business matters, [who had set] fine examples of virtue.[3] Laval was now well known in the religious community and ready to take the next step in his life.

François de Laval

Laval's nomination as a bishop for New France was the result of increasing tensions regarding the ecclesiastical state of the colony. New France had been left without a bishop for the first 50 years of its settlement. During this time, spiritual matters were often left up to the colony religious officials to regulate, with authority moving from the Recollects to the Jesuits. Only in 1646, due to pressures from Rome, did the Archbishop of Rouen become officially recognized as the immediate authority over the Church in New France.[11] Even with this recognition, the archbishop's authority continued to extend only so far as granting faculties to clergy traveling to the colony.[11] By this time it had already become clear that New France was in need of a more immediate ecclesiastical presence.[12]

Appointing a bishop proved difficult; it was a contentious issue, particularly between the Jesuits and the newly arrived Sulpicians.[12] The Jesuits, who by this time were quite accustomed to working independently, feared being controlled by a Sulpician bishop.[13] Their uneasiness stemmed from beliefs that a Sulpician bishop would undermine their control, and eventually lead to the subordination of the Church to the Crown.[12] While the Sulpicians were busy proposing one of their own, Gabriel Thubières de Levy de Queylus, as bishop, the Jesuits turned their support to Laval. With the assistance of the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, obtaining royal approval provided little challenge.[14]

What remained an obstacle for the Jesuits and Laval was procuring a papal confirmation.[15] The Holy See remained reserved regarding Laval's nomination. Much of Rome's delay in coming to a decision involved the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.[3] They agreed with the Jesuits that a bishop was needed, however, they feared that Laval as bishop would enable the Jesuits to once again hold a monopoly over the colony. In a compromise between the Jesuits and the Holy See, Laval would be appointed the Apostolic Vicar of New France.[16] Making New France into an apostolic vicariate, rather than a diocese, guaranteed that the head, in this case Laval, answered to the pope rather than the leaders of the Church in France, giving the pope some jurisdiction in the colony.[17] Along with being made vicar apostolic, Laval would be ordained a bishop in partibus, giving him the power he needed to build the Church in Canada.[17]

On 3 June 1658 in Rome, the papal bulls appointing Laval as vicar apostolic were signed. Laval became the Bishop of Petraea in partibus infidelium ("in the lands of the unbelievers").[15] On 8 December 1658, in the church of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, Laval was consecrated the Vicar Apostolic of Quebec by the papal nuncio, Cardinal Celio Piccolomini.[18] Laval took an oath of loyalty to the king and sailed from La Rochelle for New France on 13 April 1659.[3] On 16 June of that year he arrived at Quebec.[3] Immediately upon his arrival Laval began his work; on the same day his ship docked, he baptized a young Huron and gave a dying man his last sacraments.

While small in size, the colony still provided a number of challenges to Laval.[3] He found himself having to make concessions where he never thought to before to a population that, while scarce, was spread out, and was less inclined to continue under strict church discipline.[19] Additionally, he had to deal with the Sulpician Abbé de Queylus, who had already been operating in the colony as Vicar General, under the authority of the Archbishop of Rouen, who continued to claim complete ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the colony. Queylus continued to assert his own authority for nearly two years, during which time Laval repeatedly had to appeal both to the king and to the Holy See for support. In 1674, fifteen years after his arrival to New France, Laval asked that the territory be made into a fully independent diocese. His request was granted, and he was appointed the first Bishop of Quebec.[20]

Since his arrival in the colony of New France, Laval insisted on establishing and organizing a parochial system, on top of training priests in the colony itself. In 1678, he had obtained an edict from the king stating that permanent curacies will be set up in the colony. A few years later, in 1681, Laval drew up the boundaries of parishes in an attempt to permanently solidify the Church's position. Often visiting each parish, Laval eventually realised that his health was declining and that he could no longer run his large diocese, which extended from Acadia to Lake Michigan. As a result, in 1688, he passed on his responsibilities as a bishop to Jean-Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier.[33]

Laval continued to collaborate with the colony's high religious authorities, until his last days. He helped the poor with his presence and his gifts of charity. He never missed a Mass or a day of fasting, despite his ever declining health. By 1707, he had developed an ulcer which eventually took his life on 6 May 1708.[34] His body was placed in a coffin in the cathedral; however his heart was kept in the chapel of the seminary to which he had dedicated most of his life and fortune.[35]

Laval's remains have been entombed in a shrine for public veneration in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Quebec, which he had founded. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980. He was granted equipollent canonization on 3 April 2014 by Pope Francis.[36]

Université Laval, founded 1852, was named in his honor. The city of Laval, Quebec, north of Montreal, is also named after him.[37]

• Bégin, Émile (1959). "François de Laval". Quebec: Presses Universitaires. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Campeau, Lucien (1973). "Mgr de Laval et le Conseil souverain 1659–1684". Revue d'Histoire de l'Amérique Française. 27 (3): 323–359. doi:10.7202/303281ar.
• Choquette, Robert (2004). "The Development of the Catholic Church". Canada's Religions. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
• Leblond de Brumath, Adrien (1906). Bishop Laval. Toronto: Morang & Co.
• Plouffe, Hélène. "Séminaire de Québec". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
• Vachon, André. "LAVAL, FRANÇOIS DE". The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
• Walsh, Henry Horace (1966). The Church in the French era from colonization to the British conquest. Toronto: Ryerson Press.

• The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval by A. Leblond de Brumath at Project Gutenberg
• Saint Francis of Laval, First Bishop of Québec
• Centre d'animation François de Laval, Québec (en anglais)