Death of Cardinal Louis-Albert Vachon

Thursday, September 28 2006

(CCCB – Ottawa)… Cardinal Louis-Albert Vachon, Archbishop emeritus of Quebec, died 29 September at the age of 94.

Born in 1912 in Saint-Frédéric-de-Beauce, Quebec, he was ordained to the priesthood in June 1938. First named Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Quebec in 1977, he succeeded Cardinal Maurice Roy as Archbishop of Quebec in April 1981.

Less than a year after Pope John Paul II was in Quebec City during his 1984 visit to Canada, the Holy Father created him a Cardinal. On 17 March 1990, Cardinal Vachon’s resignation was accepted by the Pope, and Most Rev. Maurice Couture, S.V., appointed Archbishop of Quebec.

Cardinal Vachon served on the Commission for Theology and also on the Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). In 1983, he was one of the Canadian delegates who participated in the Sixth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome, on the theme Penance and Reconciliation in the Mission of the Church. Between 1987 and 1993 he was a member of the Holy See’s Congregation for the Clergy.

Visitation is planned at the Séminaire de Québec and in Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica. The details will later be released. The funeral will be at 11:00 a.m. in the Quebec City cathedral on Thursday, 5 October.

For more information contact:
Sylvain Salvas
Director, Communications Service
Tel: (613) 241-9461
Fax: (613) 241-9048
salvas@cccb.ca