Begin, Louis Nazaire

BEGIN, bê´´gan´, LOUIS NAZAIRE: Roman Catholic archbishop of Quebec; b. at Lévis, Quebec, Jan. 10, 1840. He was educated at the Seminary of Quebec (1857–62) and Laval University (B.A., 1863). He then began the study of theology at the Grand Seminary of Quebec, but was chosen to fill a chair in the newly established faculty of theology in the University of Laval, and was sent to Rome to study. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1865, and returned to Quebec in 1868, where he taught dogmatic theology and ecclesiastical history at Laval University until 1884, in addition to being prefect of the Little Seminary and having charge of the pupils of the University during the last few years of this period. In 1884 he accompanied the archbishop of Quebec to Rome to defend the rights of Laval University, and on his return was appointed principal of the Normal School, remaining there until 1888. In the latter year he was consecrated bishop of Chicoutimi, and three years later was appointed coadjutor, with the title of archbishop of Cyrene, to Cardinal Taschereau. On the death of the Cardinal in 1898, he became archbishop of Quebec. He has written La Primauté et l’infaillibilité des souverains pontifes (Quebec, 1873); La Sainte Écriture et la règle de la foi (1874; English translation by G. M. Ward, London, 1875); Le Culte catholique (1875); Aide-mémoire, ou chronologie de l’histoire du Canada (1886); and Catéchisme de controverse (1902).