Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve

infobox cardinalbiog
name = Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Cardinal Villeneuve †


See = Quebec
Title = Cardinal Archbishop of Quebec
Period = December 11, 1931—January 17, 1947
cardinal = March 13, 1933
Predecessor = Felix Cardinal Rouleau, OP †
Successor = Maurice Cardinal Roy †
post = Bishop of Gravelbourg | date of birth = November 2, 1883
place of birth = Montreal, Canada
date of death = January 17, 1947
place of death = Alhambra, United States |

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Cardinal Villeneuve
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Quebec |

Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Cardinal Villeneuve, OMI (November 2, 1883—January 17, 1947) was a Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 1931 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1933.

Biography

Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve was born in Montreal, one of the three children of a shoemaker. He completed his secondary studies at Mont-Saint-Louis, from where he obtained a diploma in science and commerce, in 1900. After teaching at a school in Dorval, Villeneuve entered the Oblates of Mary Immaculate on August 14, 1901, in Lachine. He professed his final vows on September 8, 1903, and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Joseph-Thomas Duhamel on May 25, 1907. While pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Ottawa, Villeneuve taught philosophy (1907-1913) and moral theology (1913-1920) at the Oblate Scholasticate in Ottawa. He also served as a professor of canon law, liturgy, spirituality, and ecclesiastical history, and the Dean of Theology at the Scholasticate.

From the University of Ottawa, he earned a doctorate in philosophy (1919), doctorate in theology (1922), and doctorate in canon law (1930). Villeneuve founded the School of Superior Ecclesiastical Studies, where he was made titular professor of canon law, in 1928. In 1929, he returned to the University of Ottawa, this time to head the Canon Law Faculty. He was active in labor unions, civil rights, and contributed to "Le Droit".

On July 3, 1930, Villeneuve was appointed the first Bishop of Gravelbourg by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 11 from Archbishop Joseph-Guillaume-Laurent Forbes, with Bishops Louis Rhéaume, OMI, and Joseph Guy, OMI, serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral of Ottawa. Villeneuve was later named Archbishop of Quebec and thus Primate of the Church in Canada on December 11, 1931.

Pius XI created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Maria degli Angeli" in the consistory of March 13, 1933. Commenting on his elevation, Villeneuve said, "I do not feel at all worthy, but the Sovereign Pontiff calls me and I go" [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745362-2,00.html Red Hats] March 20, 1933] . The Canadian primate was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 1939 papal conclave, at which he himself was considered "papabile" [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,760853,00.html According to Custom] March 6, 1939] [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,760927-2,00.html "Habemus Papam"] March 13, 1939] , that selected Pope Pius XII.

He was opposed to freedom of the press [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848036,00.html "Entitled to Pronounce"] April 4, 1938] , of thought, and of religion, and believed that granting women the right to vote would have ruinous effects on family unity and paternal authority [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778900,00.html "It Is the End"] January 27, 1947] . Initially an isolationist, he encouraged French Canadians to register for the draft and to enlist upon the outbreak of World War II, saying, "You cannot fight this war by condensing the horizon to this continent" [Ibid.] . During the fall of 1944, he visited the Canadian military stationed in Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,803286,00.html Emissary?] October 9, 1944] [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,796863,00.html The Appeal] November 27, 1944] .

Villeneuve was striken by a heart attack on July 7, 1946, while returning from Île-à-la-Crosse, where he had taken part in the celebrations for the centennial of his order. After being hospitalized at Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, he left Quebec for the United States, specifically for Misericordia Hospital in Manhattan, on the following October 4 for medical treatment, having yet another crisis on October 14.

Seeking a milder climate, he arrived at a convent in Alhambra, California, on January 14, 1947. Three days later, the Cardinal stopped his private secretary during the beginning of the latter's Mass, sensing his death was imminent [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,778900,00.html "It Is the End"] January 27, 1947] . He died within the hour, at 7:50 a.m., aged 63.

Upon his body's return to Canada, flags were set at half-staff. On January 24, James Cardinal McGuigan celebrated his funeral Mass, at which, according to Villeneuve's will, there was no eulogy but only Gregorian music. He is buried in the Cathedral-Basilica of Quebec.

Trivia

*Villeneuve became known in Ottawa as its "Good Father" [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753221,00.html Quebec's Good Father] December 28, 1931] .
*He viewed wearing shorts as an offense to Christian decency [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852325,00.html People] July 9, 1945] .

References

External links

* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bvillj.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-v.htm#Villeneuve Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008375 Canadian Encyclopedia]