Pierre-Flavien Turgeon (November 13, 1787 in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

– August 25, 1867 in Quebec City) was a Canadian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and

Archbishop of Quebec The archbishop of Quebec is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec, who is responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province encompassing ...

for 17 years.

Life

Pierre-Flavien Turgeon was born in Québec on November 13, 1787. He entered the

Séminaire de Québec The Seminary of Quebec (French: Séminaire de Québec) is a Catholic community of diocesan priests in Quebec City founded by Bishop François de Laval, the first bishop of New France in 1663. History The Séminaire de Québec is a Society of d ...

in 1799. His father, a merchant, died the following year, and his half-brother Louis served as guardian. In 1806,

Joseph-Octave Plessis Joseph-Octave Plessis (March 3, 1763 – December 4, 1825) was a Canadian Roman Catholic clergyman from Quebec. He was the first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec after the diocese was elevated to the status of an archdiocese. ...

, Bishop of Quebec, appointed Turgeon his secretary. He was ordained in 1810.Gagné, Armand. "Turgeon, Pierre-Flavien", ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003
/ref> Turgeon continued to assist Bishop Plessis in the administration of the diocese, while also fulfilling a number of different duties at the seminary. He taught philosophy from 1812 to 1815, when he became director of the Grand Seminaire. All the while, Plessis was grooming him for the episcopacy. The strain of managing both academic and diocesan responsibilities undermined his health, and in 1819, as a respite, he accompanied Plessis to Europe. Upon his return, he withdrew from teaching, but became director of the Petit Seminaire. Plessis was succeeded by

Bernard-Claude Panet Bernard-Claude Panet (January 9, 1753 – February 14, 1833) was a Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Quebec. Born in Quebec City, the son of Jean-Claude Panet, he was from a family of 14 children. He had two siblings who gained some f ...

in 1825, who was followed by

Joseph Signay Joseph Signay, (8 November 1778 – 3 October 1850), was the third archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec. Signay was ordained in 1802 by Bishop Pierre Denaut and began a number of years of parish duties. In 1814, he was appoin ...

in 1833. In February 1834,

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...

appointed Turgeon titular bishop of Sidyme and coadjutor of Archbishop Signay. Despite fragile health, Turgeon was an excellent administrator and active coadjutor."Mgr Pierre-Flavien Turgeon", Archives de l'Archidiocèse de Québec
/ref> As auxiliary bishop, he concentrated on the areas of education and religious congregations. Of a mild disposition, he was often able to mediate disagreements between Archbishop Signay and

Ignace Bourget Ignace Bourget (October 30, 1799 – June 8, 1885) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec, in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several cou ...

, Bishop of Montreal. In 1844, Turgeon made a pastoral visit among the missions of the Saint Lawrence Gulf. In November 1849, due to ill health, Signay turned over administration of the diocese to his coadjutor. Signay died in October 1850, and Turgeon succeeded as Archbishop of Quebec.Beaudoin, o.m.i., Yvon. "Turgeon, Pierre Flavien, Archbishop of Quebec from 1850 to 1867", OMI World
/ref> Notably collegial in his approach, Turgeon called the first provincial council of Quebec in 1851. In 1852, the suffragan dioceses of

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

and

Saint-Hyacinthe Saint-Hyacinthe (; French: ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérég ...

were erected. He was a moving force behind the founding of the

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...

. Following a serious illness, in February 1855 he handed over administration of the diocese to his coadjutor, Bishop

Charles-François Baillargeon Charles-François Baillargeon (April 26, 1798 – October 13, 1870) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and archbishop. Biography He was from Lower Canada and studied at the Collège de Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud and Collège de Nico ...

. Turgeon was stricken with paralysis and often unable to speak the last seven years of his life. He died on August 25, 1867 and was buried in the cathedral.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turgeon, Pierre-Flavien 1787 births 1867 deaths Roman Catholic archbishops of Quebec 19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada Burials at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec