Ignace Bourget

Ignace Bourget

Ignace Bourget (born October 30, 1799 in Lévis , † June 8, 1885 in Sault-au-Récollet (now part of Montreal )) was a Roman Catholic bishop in Canada . He was from 1840 to 1876 before the diocese of Montreal . He was known for his extremely ultramontane posture.

biography

Bourget studied theology at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and was ordained a priest in 1822 . He was then secretary to the Bishop of Montreal, Jean-Jacques Lartigue . On March 10, 1837 Pope Gregory XVI appointed him . against the will of Sulpizianerordens the titular bishop of Telmissus and Coadjutor Bishop of Montreal. He was ordained episcopate on July 25th of the same year by Bishop Lartigue. Co- consecrators were the Coadjutor of Québec , Archbishop Pierre-Flavien Turgeon , and the Coadjutor of Kingston , Rémi Gaulin .

During the 1837 rebellions , he publicly condemned the Lower Canada rebels , led by his cousin Louis-Joseph Papineau , for what he believed to be dangerous liberal ideas. On April 19, 1840, after Lartigue's death, he succeeded him as Bishop of Montreal.

In order to meet the increasing competition from Protestant missionaries, Bourget recruited numerous members of various religious communities in France , mainly Oblates and Jesuits . The previously poorly organized diocese was given new structures and after a few years shaped almost the entire francophone education system and health system. Bourget founded several charitable organizations and wrote numerous writings in which he disseminated a decidedly ultramontane worldview. Again and again he came into conflict with liberal circles and even refused to bury some members of scientific societies because these societies had books that were on the index .

In 1852, the Saint-Jacques Cathedral in Montreal was destroyed by a major fire. After more than two decades of planning, work on a new building (today's Marie-Reine-du-Monde de Montréal Cathedral ) began in 1875 and was not completed until 1894.

Bourget often got involved in politics. In 1871 he tried in vain to prevent the separation of church and state in New Brunswick . But his efforts meant that in the province of Québec such measures did not take place until 1964. Louis Riel , the leader of the Métis during the Red River Rebellion , received spiritual support from him in exile.

Bourget wanted to found a university in Montreal, but under pressure from the Archbishop of Québec, Pope Pius IX. only one branch of the Université Laval . Thereupon Bourget resigned as bishop on June 26, 1876 and was appointed titular archbishop of Marcianopolis .

Web links

• Ignace Bourget . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Ignace Bourget ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Entry for Ignace Bourget on catholic-hierarchy.org

predecessor	Office	successor
Jean-Jacques Lartigue	Bishop of Montréal 1840–1876	Edouard-Charles Fabre