Pierre Denaut

Pierre Denaut

Tenth Bishop of Quebec, b. at Montreal, 20 July, 1743; d. at Longueuil in 1806. After studying at Montreal and Quebec, he was ordained priest in 1767, and appointed pastor of Soulanges, when only twenty-four years old. During the American invasion (1775) he maintained his flock faithful to their sovereign. Transferred to Longueuil (1787), appointed vicar-general (1791), he succeeded Bishop Bailly as coadjutor to Bishop Hubert, and was consecrated 29 June, 1795. He remained at Longueuil even after his appointment to the See of Quebec (1797), always taking a predominant part in the government of the diocese, with the efficacious cooperation of Bishop Plessis, appointed coadjutor in 1801. He visited his entire diocese, travelling through Upper Canada on his way to Detroit, in 1801 and 1802. In 1803, via Burlington and Boston, he visited the Maritime Provinces, where the Acadians and Indians beheld a bishop for the first time. An enlightened patron of education, he founded Nicolet College (1803), and aided in enlarging Montreal College in 1804. He resisted the encroachments of a British governor claiming the right of presentation to parishes, and opposed the "Royal Institution" investing Protestants with the control of public instruction. Courteous towards temporal authorities and firm in the defence of episcopal rights, he prepared the way for the civil recognition of the Bishop of Quebec and the freedom of the Church.

TETU, Les évêques de Québec (Quebec, 1889); Archives of the archbishop's palace, Quebec.

LIONEL LINDSAY