Portrait of Mgr. Plessis

Joseph-Octave Plessis was born on March 3, 1763 in Montreal. Ordained priest in 1786, he was assigned to Notre-Dame Parish in Quebec in 1792, appointed Bishop Pierre Denaut’s coadjutor in 1797, and Bishop of Quebec in 1806. From 1814, he supported a drive by the Canadian party to obtain a new education act, of which a first version was approved in 1824. In 1817, he was named to the Legislative Council. He endorsed classical schools and colleges in urban centres as well as in rural areas. He died at the Quebec General Hospital on December 4, 1825.