Louis-Adolphe Pâquet
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Louis-Adolphe Paquet (; also Pâquet;His family name is often given with a circumflex, which is also the normal form for several of his relatives. August 4, 1859 – February 4, 1942) was an influential
French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...
theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
from the late 19th early 20th century, and a major North American proponent and actor in the rebirth of Neo-Scholasticism. Although nowhere as politically influential as his uncle
Benjamin Pâquet Benjamin Pâquet (or Paquet, pronounced ; March 27, 1832 – February 25, 1900) was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest and educator. He was an influential and controversial figure in 19th century Quebec religious politics, making numerous ene ...
had been, he was well respected and his opinion helped shape the doctrines and policies of the Canadian church in the early 20th century.


Biography

Joseph-Louis-Adolphe PaquetHis full baptismal name was Joseph Louis Adolphe, following the tradition of using "Joseph" as the first given name, which would continue until the mid-20th century. As is usual in such cases, Paquet did not use his first name. Hyphens are usually added even if they were not present on baptism documents. was born on August 4, 1859, to a farmer couple, Adolphe Pâquet and Éléonore Demers, on the family domain in Saint-Nicolas, on the southern shore of the
Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...
opposite
Quebec City Quebec City 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 Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
. He was their eldest son, though not their eldest child, which was his sister Joséphine. Adolphe Pâquet would later be mayor of the municipality in the 1870s and 1880s. Louis-Adolphe came from an influential family: two of his uncles,
Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...
and
Louis-Honoré Pâquet Louis-Honoré Pâquet (or Paquet, ; 23 October 1838 – 19 September 1915) was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest and university teacher, as well as celebrated orator of his time. Biography Pâquet was born in 1838 in Saint-Nicolas, Quebec, ...
, were notable churchmen, and one of his cousins, Étienne-Théodore, would later be elected to the provincial legislature. Paquet studied in nearby Saint-Louis-de-Lotbinière, then at the
Séminaire de Québec The Seminary of Quebec (French: , ) is a Catholic Church, Catholic community of Secular clergy, 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 ...
before continuing his theological studies at the
Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian, is a pontifical university that was under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The university's mission is to ...
(then the University of the
Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
), where he presented his
D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...
thesis before
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...
in June 1883. He had been ordained earlier that year, on March 24. Upon his return, he became a teacher of
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
at
Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...
, an appointment he would keep until his death in 1942, one of the longest careers in the department. He would also along the course of his career, be dean of the Faculty of Theology (1904–1938) and Director of the Quebec Seminary (1902). He was made apostolic protonotary in 1902 and member of the
Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
in 1903. Encouraged by the pope to promote Neo-Scholasticism in Canada, he became one of the foremost proponents of the new philosophy, writing extensively on it and founding in 1930 the Académie canadienne Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, a philosophical organization devoted to the study of
Saint Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, the foremost Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the Western tradition. A Doctor of the Church, he wa ...
' writings. A prolific writer, he published in a number of venues from episcopal publications to newspapers, when he was not outright part of the direction board. As official interpreter of Papal pronouncements on questions interesting French Canada, he became very influential, pronouncing opinions on issues such as the
Manitoba Schools Question The Manitoba Schools Question () was a political crisis in the Canadian province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, attacking publicly-funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants. The crisis was precipitated by a ...
(his first public intervention) and Ontario's
Regulation 17 Regulation 17 () was a regulation of the Government of Ontario, Canada, designed to limit instruction in French-language Catholic separate schools. The regulation was written by the Ministry of Education and was issued in July 1912 by the Progr ...
. His 1902 speech, ''La Vocation de la race française en Amérique'' ("The Vocation of the French Race in America"), shaped
French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...
nationalism around a missionary office for decades. Although the idea was already present in the writings of others, it was this speech that memorably crystallized it as a formal ideology and would be later cited as the text to refer to on the issue. In the same decade, he was an envoy of
Louis-Nazaire Bégin Louis-Nazaire Bégin (January 10, 1840 – July 18, 1925) was a Canadian cardinal of the Catholic Church. Begin held a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was later appointed Archbishop of Quebec by ...
to Rome, in 1906, where he would be an important element in the latter's rise to
cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
ate. In 1909, he was charged with rewriting the ''schemata'' (decree proposals) resulting from the first Plenary Council of the Canadian Church. Paquet's ''Le Droit public de l'Église'' codified a lot of the French-Canadian catholic doctrine of the time, to the point that one commenter, Dominican Ceslas-Marie Forest, the dean of
Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...
's faculty of philosophy, described it as "Sacro-saint", "untouchable", "
integrist In politics, integralism, integrationism or integrism () is an interpretation of Catholic social teaching that argues the principle that the Catholic faith should be the basis of public law and public policy within civil society, wherever the ...
" and "reactionary"; amongst other things, it was the source of the major arguments against mandatory public education (which Paquet characterized as a Freemason plot). In 1907, he was amongst the founders of '' L'Action Catholique'', an antisemitic traditionalist Catholic newspaper that would reach its highest points under
Maurice Duplessis Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959) byname "Le Chef" (, "The Boss"), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A Conservatism in Canada, conservative, Quebec nationalism, ...
. In its page, he would notably condemn
Bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...
, characterizing it as little more than
anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
. Although he voiced strong opinions (but in fact mostly echoed the prevalent conservative views of the French-Canadian clergy and elites of his time), Paquet had—unlike his uncle Benjamin—fairly little direct involvement in the religious politics of the period, a state that might have changed had the plan to counteract the Irish Catholic influence in Rome succeeded. The idea was to install him permanently in Rome with the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s and have him named consultant to a few congregations, where he could acquire episcopal prestige. It is not known why that plan was never acted upon. Paquet's philosophy was characterised by some of the strictest
ultramontane Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by ...
principles of the times (hence Forest's description of his ''Droit''). He was one of the most vocal and noticeable opponent of women's voting rights in the 20s and 30s, and is even credited by some as a major agent of the strong
social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...
that would remain prevalent until the 50s; his influence nonetheless declined as public interest moved away from the religious to the social aspect of socio-religious issue, and his writing is considered of little interest in modern theological or social discussions beyond historic or historiographic considerations. A large collection of his papers, primarily from his career at Laval, are part of the Quebec Seminary archives. The Pâquet family domain is the major element of a local
historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...
, the
Saint-Nicolas Heritage Site The Saint-Nicolas Heritage Site () is a small municipal historic district located in the western part of Lévis, Quebec. It encompasses a group of a half-dozen properties and their dependencies that developed around the estate of a major family. ...
, as well as a
historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
.


Notes


References

General * * Specific


Further reading

* * *


External links


''La Vocation de la race française en Amérique''
("The Vocation of the French Race in America"), one of Paquet's most famous speeches
Online bibliographyA portrait of Pâquet
from the seminary's archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paquet, Louis-Adolphe 1859 births 1942 deaths People from Lévis, Quebec 19th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Canadian Roman Catholic theologians Apostolic pronotaries Pontifical Urban University alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Academic staff of Université Laval 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests