Laval de Montmorency, Saint François Xavier de, << luh VAL duh mawn maw rahn SEE, saynt frahn SWAH gzah VYAY duh >> (1623-1708), was the first Roman Catholic bishop of the city of Quebec. Quebec was then the capital of New France, a French colony that included much of Canada and part of what is now the United States.
Laval was born in Montigny-sur-Avre, near Paris, on April 30, 1623. He became a Jesuit priest in 1647 and a bishop in 1658. The Roman Catholic Church sent Laval to Quebec in 1659. There, he became a major figure in the religious and civil affairs of New France. In 1663, Laval founded the Seminary of Quebec (now Université Laval or Laval University) to train priests for work in the colony. Laval also tried to impose a strict Christian morality on New France. For example, he attempted to prevent traders from selling liquor to the Native Americans. But government officials who wanted to protect the traders opposed him. Laval retired as bishop in 1688. However, he came out of retirement in 1700 and served Quebec in a religious capacity until his death on May 6, 1708. Pope Francis declared Laval a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 2014.
