Diocese of Chicoutimi
| Diocese of Chicoutimi Dioecesis Chicoutimiensis | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Ecclesiastical province | Québec |
| Statistics | |
| Population Total Catholics |
(as of 2016) 282,000 (est.) 275,000 (est.) (97.5%) |
| Parishes | 65 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Cathedral | Saint-François-Xavier Cathedral |
| Secular priests | 112 (diocesan) 21 (Religious Orders) 43 Permanent Deacons |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | René Guay |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Gérald Lacroix |
| Bishops emeritus | André Rivest |
| Website | |
| evechedechicoutimi.qc.ca | |
The Diocese of Chicoutimi (Latin: Dioecesis Chicoutimiensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese in Quebec, centred on the borough of Chicoutimi in the city of Saguenay. It is part of the ecclesiastical province of Quebec.[1]
On 18 November 2017, Pope Francis appointed René Guay, a priest of Chicoutimi, as the new bishop.[2]
Bishops
- Dominique Racine (1878-1888)
- Louis Nazaire Bégin (1888-1892), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Québec; future Cardinal
- Michel-Thomas Labrecque (1892-1927)
- Charles-Antonelli Lamarche (1928-1940)
- Georges-Arthur Melançon (1940-1961)
- Marius Paré (1961-1979)
- Jean-Guy Couture (1979-2004)
- André Rivest (2004-2017)
- René Guay (2017–present)[3]
Coadjutor bishop
- Marius Paré (1960-1961)
Auxiliary bishops
- Marius Paré (1956-1960), appointed Coadjutor here
- Roch Pedneault (1974-2002)
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
- Bertrand Blanchet, appointed Bishop of Gaspé, Québec in 1973
- Serge Patrick Poitras, appointed Bishop of Timmins, Ontario in 2012
Canonical status and jurisdiction
Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicoutimi is a diocese of the catholic church of the Catholic Church.[4]
- Part of: Ecclesiastical Province of Québec
External links
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Diocese of Chicoutimi — Diocese created, 28 May, 1878, a part of the civil and ecclesiastical Province of Quebec, which embraces the counties of Charlevoix, Chicoutimi, and Lac St.-Jean, and is situated in the north-eastern section of the Province of Quebec, north of the St. Lawrence River. Charlevoix county was settled by the French in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and Chicoutimi and Lac St. Jean were founded in the middle of the nineteenth by the settlers from the valley of the St. Lawrence. This mountainous region contains the Saguenay River, the extensive lakes known as the St.-Jean and the Mistassini. Chicoutimi and Lac St.-Jean were centres of an extensive lumber trade earlier in the century; to-day they are better known for their agricultural development and the paper pulp. This vast region has communication with the West through the Canadian Northern Railway, with the interior of the continent and Europe through the Saguenay and the St. Lawrence Rivers. It was served by the Jesuit missionaries till the end of the eighteenth century; by the Oblates until the middle of the nineteenth; since then by secular priests. A small church built by the Jesuits in 1747 at Tadousac is still standing. The see is at Chicoutimi, a town of 7000 inhabitants, situated on the Saguenay. The diocesan seminary comprises a classical college with 200 pupils and the theological school with 28 student. The parishes have increased from 24 in 1878 to 55 in 1907. There are 105 secular and 18 regular priests (Oblates, Trappists, Eudists). The Marist Brothers have 6 colleges, and the Brothers of St. Francis Regis an agricultural Orphan asylum. There are 340 sisters of the following institutes: Hospitalières, Ursulines, Good Shepherd, Congregation of Notre Dame, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of the Holy Rosary, the Petites-Franciscaines Missionaires de Marie, Sisters of Good Council, Sisters of St. Anthony of Padua, Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. They have charge of an orphan asylum, 3 hospitals, 2 female schools of domestic economy, 7 convents, and many parochial schools. There are 15,000 children in the 310 parochial schools. The population of the diocese is about 66,000 inhabitants of French origin, who, with the exception of about fifty, are all Catholics. The first bishops was Mgr. Dominique Racine, consecrated 4 Aug., 1878; d. 28 Jan., 1888. His successors have been Mgr. L. N. Bégin, consecrated 28 Oct., 1888; appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Quebec, 22 Dec. 1891; Mgr. M. T. Labrecque, consecrated 22 May, 1892, and Administrator of the Apostolic Prefecture of the Gulf of St. Lawrence from 1872 to 1903.
Rapports sur les Missions du diocèse de Québec (Quebec, 1839-1874); relations des Jésuites (Quebec, 1858); HUARD, L'Apôtre du Saguenay (Quebec, 1895); IDEM, Labrador et Anticosti (Montreal, 1897); Le Canada Ecclésiastique (Montreal, 1908).
References
- Back to citation Diocese of Chicoutimi - catholic-hierarchy.org; Chicoutimi - Catholic Encyclopedia article; Official Web site
- Back to citation "Ordination of the new Bishop of Chicoutimi". The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). Retrieved 25 March 2025; Bouffard, Dany. "Mgr René Guay – Nouvel évêque de Chicoutimi". Église catholique de Québec - ECDQ.tv. Retrieved 25 March 2025; David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, Rene Guay; retrieved: 2017-11-19.
- Back to citation "René Guay, nouvel évêque du diocèse de Chicoutimi". Radio-Canada. CBC. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
- Back to citation Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicoutimi, official website
Bibliography
- Huard, V.A. (1908). "Diocese of Chicoutimi". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.