Date Published: |
L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia
Jean Olivier Briand
Briand, Jean Olivier (1715-1794), Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec (1766-1784), was born in France in 1715. He was ordained a priestof the Roman Catholic Church in 1739, and came to Canada in 1741. For many years he was a canon of the cathedral at Quebec; and in 1766 the British government gave an informal consent to his consecration as bishop of Quebec, with the official title of superintendant of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada. He played an important part in keeping the French Canadians [the Canadiens] at least passively loyal to the British Crown during the period of the American Revolution [see the note below]. In 1784 he retired on a pension; and he died at Quebec on June 25, 1794. Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. I, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., pp. 283-284. Note: In attempting to define the position of Briand during the American invasion of Quebec, historian George M. WRONG wrote (in Canada and the American Revolution, pp 281-282):
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© 2005
Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College |