Maurice Roy - Biography

Biography

Maurice Roy was born in Quebec City as one of three children. His father was a judge, dean of the faculty of law at the University of Laval, and a friend of Maurice Duplessis. His mother was a descendant of the poet Napoléon Legendre. Initially homsechooled, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Joseph Brunault on June 12, 1927 after attending the Seminary of Quebec from 1915 to 1923. He obtained his licentiate in theology from the University of Laval in 1927, and then studied at the Angelicum in Rome, receiving a doctorate in philosophy in 1929. From 1929 to 1930, he attended the Sorbonne and the Catholic Institute in Paris. Roy then taught dogmatic and sacramental theology and apologetics at Quebec's Grand Seminary until 1939. He worked as a chaplain to the University of Laval (1935–1937) and to the Canadian Army during World War II. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his "extremely courageous conduct" as a chaplain in the war. Resuming his teaching posts upon his return to Canada in 1945, Roy was named superior of the seminary in December of that same year.

On February 22, 1946, he was appointed Bishop of Trois Rivières by Pope Pius XII. Roy received his episcopal consecration on the following May 1 from Cardinal Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, OMI, with Bishops Albini Lafortune and Arthur Douville serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame. Roy became Bishop of the Catholic of Canada on June 8 of the same year, later resigning from the post on March 12, 1982, after thirty-five years of service.

A little over a year after Roy's first episcopal appointment, Pope Pius raised him to Archbishop of Quebec on June 2, 1947. He was made Primate of the Canadian Church upon Quebec's elevation to that ecclesiastical rank on January 24, 1956. Roy condemned the supposed miracles of Saint-Sylvestre in 1949, and prohibited Fr. Georges-Henri Lévesque from sitting on Parliament in 1955, fearing that a priest with such a postiton would bring embarrassment to the Church. Participating in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Roy was created Cardinal-Priest of Nostra Signora del Ss. Sacramento e Santi Martiri Canadesi by Pope Paul VI in the consistory of February 22, 1965. He was named the first President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and of that for Justice and Peace on January 6, 1967, and then first President of Family on January 11, 1973. He stepped down as Quebec's archbishop on March 20, 1981, after a period of thirty-three years.

In 1971 Roy was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, and he resigned all three of his Curial posts on December 16, 1976. He was a cardinal elector in the conclaves of August and October 1978, and stepped down as Quebec's archbishop on March 20, 1981, after a period of thirty-three years.

He died in his sleep at a hospital in Quebec, at age 80. He is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Thus his baptism, confirmation, priestly ordination, episcopal consecration, installment as Archbishop of Quebec, and burial all took place at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.