Pierre-Herman Dosquet | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Pierre-Herman Dosquet

Pierre-Herman Dosquet, Sulpician missionary, 4th bishop of Québec (b at Liège, Belgium 4 Mar 1691; d at Paris, France 4 Mar 1777). After serving with the Sulpicians and priests of the Missions étrangères, Dosquet was named administrator of the diocese of Québec in 1729 and coadjutor bishop in 1730.

Dosquet, Pierre-Herman

Pierre-Herman Dosquet, Sulpician missionary, 4th bishop of Québec (b at Liège, Belgium 4 Mar 1691; d at Paris, France 4 Mar 1777). After serving with the Sulpicians and priests of the Missions étrangères, Dosquet was named administrator of the diocese of Québec in 1729 and coadjutor bishop in 1730. In Canada he attempted to restore the tithe to its normal rate, eradicate the brandy trade, reform monastic life and increase episcopal revenues. Titular bishop after 1733, he urged the priests to offer Latin instruction. He forbade schoolmasters to teach girls, and priests to wear wigs or employ young women domestics. He found the colonists undisciplined and materialistic; they regarded him as a foreigner. Despairing of restoring to his office and the clergy the power and prestige they traditionally could expect, he returned to France in 1735. Louis XV obtained his resignation only in 1739.