In the 16th and 17th centuries, France was eager to expand its kingdom in the New World and quickly started snatching up territories throughout North America. While they avoided the 13 colonies, they took Canada, went south into the Midwest, and ended in modern-day Louisiana.
With this colonization, many priests and religious arrived in the New World and began tending to the spiritual needs of the French explorers and colonists. The operation became so big that eventually a bishop was needed to oversee "New France."
The first bishop to be appointed to this region was St. Francois de Laval, a holy man who would go on to shepherd a large flock. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains, "At this period the Diocese of Quebec comprised all North America, exclusive of New England, the Atlantic sea-board, and the Spanish colonies to the West, a territory now divided into about a hundred dioceses."
Influenced by St. Vincent de Paul and others
Born in 1623, Laval eventually studied with the Jesuits, but was ordained a priest for the Dicoese of Évreux. He had heard much about the Jesuits' activity in New France and was interested in their missionary ventures.
Initially he oversaw various apostolates in the diocese and was particularly interested in serving the poor. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "[he] lived at the 'hermitage' of Caen, in the practice of piety and good works, emulating the example of the prominent figures of that period of religious revival, Olier, Vincent de Paul, Bourdoise, Eudes, and others, several of whom were his intimate friends."
Then in 1658 there was a request for a bishop to oversee New France and Laval was chosen to take the lead. He arrived in the Americas in 1659 and set to work shepherding his new flock.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops provides the following summary of his work in North America:
During his 25 years in New France, the number of parishes went from 5 to 15, the number of priests from 25 to 102, and the number of women religious from 32 to 97; 13 priests and 50 women religious were natives of the diocese of Québec. Returning to Québec in 1688, Bishop de Laval retired at the Seminary. He devoted himself to prayer and caring for the poor.
He died on May 6, 1708 and was beatified by St. John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2014.
Laval was a very holy bishop of the New World and sowed the seeds of faith for future generations throughout Canada and the United States.
