Paul-Émile Léger

Paul-Émile Léger, CC, GOQ, PSS (April 26, 1904&mdash;November 13, 1991) was a Canadian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Montreal from 1950 to 1968, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1953 by Pope Pius XII.

Early life and ordination
Paul-Émile Léger was born in Valleyfield, Quebec, to Ernest and Alda (née Beauvais) Léger; his younger brother, Jules Léger, was Governor General of Canada from 1974 to 1979. From 1916 to 1925, he attended the Seminary of Sainte-Thérèse, but was forced to interrupt his studies for a period of four years due to illness. Léger entered the Jesuit novitiate at Sault-au-Récollet, but was considered too emotional to continue in that order.

Professor and thologian
After attending the Seminary of Montreal (from where he obtained a licentiate in theology in 1929), he was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1929. Léger then joined the Society of Saint-Sulpice, entering its novitiate in Issy-les-Moulineaux. He went on to study at the Catholic Institute of Paris, and received his doctorate in canon law in 1931.

He taught theology at Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Paris for a year, and served as assistant Master of Novices from 1932 to 1933, when he was sent to Japan to create a seminary in Fukuoka for the formation of indigenous priests. .

Pastoral work
Léger did pastoral work in Omuta and taught philosophy at its seminary until 1939. Returning to Canada during World War II, he was Professor of Sociology in Montreal and Professor of Apologetics at the Pius XI Institute from 1939 to 1940

In 1940 he was named Vicar General of Valleyfield, and was raised to the rank of Monsignor on September 29, 1942. Léger had to temporarily leave the Society of Saint-Sulpice upon assuming his diocesan duites, but later entered the Society again in 1947, when he also became rector of the Pontifical Canadian College in Rome.



Archbishop
On March 25, 1950, he was named Archbishop of Montreal by Pope Pius XII. Léger received his episcopal consecration on the following April 26 from Cardinal Adeodato Giovanni Piazza, OCD, with Archbishop Maurice Roy and Bishop Jean-Julien Weber, PSS, serving as co-consecrators.

Cardinal
He was created Cardinal Priest of S. Maria degli Angeli by Pius XII in the consistory of January 12, 1953, and was one of the electors in the 1958 papal conclave, which selected Pope John XXIII. During his tenure in Montreal, he also prohibited his clergy from retaining membership in Rotary clubs.

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively.

Later career
Léger resigned as Montreal's archbishop on April 20, 1968 to perform missionary work in Africa among lepers and handicapped children. In 1968 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

In 1985, he was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. He was the 1979 recipient of the first Pearson Medal of Peace for his humanitarian work.

Retirement and death
From May 2, 1989 until his death, he was the Cardinal Protopriest, or the longest-serving member of the order of Cardinal Priests.

Léger died from pneumonia at the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, at age 87. His funeral Mass was celebrated by Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte. He was the last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope Pius XII.

Role during the Council
The Cardinal was a leading liberal force at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). With the assistance of Cardinals Antonio Caggiano and Norman Gilroy, he delivered one of the closing messages of the Council on December 8, 1965.

Religious liberty
He supported religious liberty at the Council.

Birth control
He supported permission for birth control and the equality of conjugal love and procreation in marriage.

Antisemitism
He believed that the Council Fathers needed to issue a stronger declaration against antisemitism as a "necessary act of a renewed Church".

Ecumenism
A cardinal elector in the 1963 papal conclave, Léger spoke at a session of the Faith and Order Commission in September 1963.

Trivia

 * Before becoming a priest, Léger worked as a mechanic, railroad worker, and butcher.
 * His father Ernest was a local storekeeper, and his brother Jules was a career diplomat who eventually became Governor General of Canada in 1974.
 * Léger sought the enforcement of Canada's laws against liquor, bingo, lotteries, and bachelor parties.
 * He supported Archbishop Roy's banning of Father Georges-Henri Lévesque from the Canadian Parliament.
 * Many Catholic schools at the elementary and secondary level in Canada are named for him.