Mgr. Paul LaRocque 1893-1926
The second Bishop Mgr. Paul LaRocque 1893-1926
Biographic record :
Born in Sainte-Marie-de-Monnoir (Saint-Hyacinthe Diocese), he was ordained priest on 9 May 9 1869, in the Hôtel-Dieu chapel in Montréal. Given his poor health, he was first a missionary in Key West, Florida (1869-1875) and then parish priest of the same location (1875-1880). Student in Rome (1880-1883), he obtained doctorates in theology and canon law. Upon his return, he became officiating minister (1884-1885) then parish priest of Saint-Hyacinthe’s Cathedral (1885-1893). He was named canon of the diocesan chapter (1887) and chapter penitential minister. Pope Leon XIII assigned him as second bishop of Sherbrooke on 24 September 1893. He learned of his nomination on 26 September while visiting the «Chicago Daily News» in Chicago and reading the evening edition. He received episcopal ordination on 30 November 1893 in Sherbrooke’s Cathedral. In 1909, he founded Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital in Sherbrooke. In 1919, he established the Soeurs Missionnaires Notre-Dame-des-Anges religious community in Lennoxville. He invited Les Petites Soeurs de la Sainte-Famille to establish their Mother House in Sherbrooke in 1895. He was responsible for the foundation of the Monastary of the Sisters of the Precious Blood in Sherbrooke (1895), as well as for the Franciscan convent in Lennoxville (1920) and for the Monastary of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament in Sherbrooke (1925). He recruited from France the Community of the Daughters of Charity of the Sacred Heart (1907). Upon his instigation, the Redemptorist Fathers founded a closed retreat house in Sherbrooke (1913). On his request, the Benedictines monks opened a Monastary in Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, in 1912. He established 37 new parishes. He gave the first momentum to Catholic unions. He built the Chapelle Pauline and the current bishop’s palace (1917-1919). He died in Sherbrooke on 15 August 1926.