Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau

Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau (17 February 1820 – April 12, 1898) was a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Quebec City and the first Canadian cardinal. His father was Jean-Thomas Taschereau, a son of Gabriel-Elzéar Taschereau, the patriarch of this rather remarkable French Canadian family.

Born in 1820 at Sainte-Marie de la Beauce, Quebec, he studied at the Séminaire de Québec (1826-36, 1837-42) and, by all accounts, was a highly regarded student. He obtained a doctorate in Canon law in Rome in 1856 and had a dual career in teaching and the episcopacy.

He was a teacher, director, prefect of studies and superior at the Séminaire de Québec; he helped found Université Laval in 1852 and served as its second rector (1860-66, 1869-71).

At the urging of the Canadian government and many, in 1886 Pope Leo XIII made Taschereau a cardinal. He was not able to stay in post for long as illness forced him to turn over his workload to Louis-Nazaire Bégin. He died in Quebec City on April 12, 1898.

References

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6455 Biography at "the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1886.htm#Taschereau "The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church"] , by Salvador Miranda at Florida International University
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14462b.htm Biography at "the Catholic Encyclopedia"]
* [http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007874 "The Canadian Encyclopedia": Taschereau, Elzéar-Alexandre]
* [http://www.assnat.qc.ca/FRA/membres/notices/t-u/tasctpj.htm Assemblée Nationale Quebec: Thomas-Pierre-Joseph Taschereau] (in French)

s-ttl|title=Rector of Université Laval
years=1860–1865

s-ttl|title=Rector of Université Laval
years=1869–1871

s-ttl|title=Archbishop of Quebec
years=1871–1898