Jean-Jacques Lartigue

Jean-Jacques Lartigue, S.S., (20 June 1777 – 19 April 1840) was a Canadian Sulpician, who served as the first Catholic Bishop of Montreal.

Early life

Lartigue was born to a noted Montreal family, the only son of Jacques Larthigue, a surgeon, and Marie-Charlotte Cherrier. He attended the Collège Saint-Raphaël (later the Petit Séminaire de Montréal), followed by two years at an English school run by the Sulpicians, receiving a solid education. He then clerked for three years with a Montreal law firm where he developed a lifelong interest in the politics of Lower Canada. In this he followed the example of his three uncles who were members of the Canadian legislature, including Joseph Papineau and Denis Viger.

In 1797, Lartigue gave up a promising career in the legal profession and turned toward the Catholic priesthood. He soon received minor orders and later the diaconate from Bishop Pierre Denaut of Quebec and taught at his Saint-Raphaël, while he studied for the priesthood under the Sulpicians. He was ordained a deacon on 28 October 1799, and Bishop Denaut appointed him as his secretary.

Priesthood

On 21 September 1800, Lartigue was ordained a priest by Bishop Denaut at the Church of Saint-Denis on the banks of the Richelieu River, where another uncle, François Cherrier, was curé. Lartigue helped not only in the administrative affairs of the diocese, but in the pastoral duties at Longueuil, where the bishop resided as curé.