Hubert, Jean François
HUBERT, JEAN FRANÇOIS
Ninth bishop of Quebec, Canada; b. Quebec, Feb. 23, 1739; d. there, Oct. 17, 1797. He was the son of Jacques François, a baker, and Marie Louise (Maranda) Hubert. After studies at the Quebec seminary, he was ordained July 20, 1766, the first candidate to receive Holy Orders after the reestablishment of the episcopate under the English regime. He served as professor, procurator, and first Canadian superior of the seminary. In 1785 he went first to the Illinois and then to the Detroit missions. A year later he was consecrated coadjutor of Quebec, with the title of bishop of Almyra, and he succeeded to the see in 1788. In 1797, a few months before he died, Hubert resigned his see, having distinguished himself by receiving several refugee priests of the French Revolution, by encouraging Catholic education, and by safeguarding against the threat of a nondenominational university in 1789.
Bibliography: h. tÊtu, Les Évêques de Québec (Quebec 1889). a. h. gosselin, L'Église du Canada après la conquête, 2 v. (Quebec 1916–17) v.2. l. p. audet, Le Système scolaire de la Province de Québec, v.2 (Quebec 1951).
[h. provost]