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The Catholic Historical Review 92.4 (2006) 704-705

Reviewed by
John P. Comiskey
St. Peter's Seminary
London, Ontario
Dictionnaire biographique des évêques catholiques du Canada: Les diocèses catholiques canadiens des Églises latine et orientales et leurs évêques; repères chronologiques et biographiques, 1658-2002. By Jean LeBlanc. [Instruments de Recherche.] (Montreal: Wilson & Lafleur. 2002. Pp. 882. Can. $94.50, US $75.00.)

There have been three major efforts in the past to compile a listing of the bishops of Canada, one by Gérard Brassard in 1940, one by André Chapeau and colleagues at the Research Centre in Religious History of Canada at St. Paul's University, Ottawa, in 1980, and finally, the work of J. Lemarche in 1999. These were supplemented by various histories that have detailed the lives of bishops. All were significant works for their time and provided helpful information for historians and other researchers. Despite meticulous research, the writers were sometimes hampered by a lack of archival material or inexact information that was reproduced in various directories and dictionaries, and so the works were not without mistakes. As well, each of the directories very soon became "dated" as new bishops were added.

Based on these earlier works, and with many more sources now available, the present volume offers the researcher more information than before, and includes newer bishops (now numbering almost 530 since the time of François de Laval in 1658) named since the earlier works were published. In the first part, along with the list of (arch)dioceses and all their (arch)bishops, coadjutors, or auxiliaries where applicable, the Dictionnaire also includes information about Canadians who have served as bishops outside of Canada, the titular sees of coadjutor and auxiliary bishops, those who have been representatives of the Holy See in Canada, an index of bishops who were members of religious orders, and an index of all names cross-referencing the rest of the Dictionnaire. The bulk of the work comprises the second part, a biography of each bishop named in the first part. Here is where one finds more than basic data, but also details such as the bishop's involvement on the local and national scene. These biographies give a glimpse into the lives of the hierarchy, making them more than simply names in a list.

LeBlanc has benefited from the work done in earlier decades, but he has also tried to correct mistakes made earlier and even, in detailed footnotes, shows where the spelling of a name or a date varies from source to source, trying to ascertain which one is correct. Hardbound, well-organized, and easy-to-read, this volume is an invaluable resource for historians and other researchers. I would [End Page 704] venture so far as to say that there is even an American audience for this work, especially along the border, since historically, many bishops traveled back and forth to assist neighboring bishops in time of need, or to share in the great celebrations of their neighbors. The fact that the work is entirely in French will be a problem for a small part of the reading audience, since most researchers are called upon to use at least a few languages in their work. For the unilingual, even a minimal knowledge of French makes the basic data available, and so it can still appeal to a wide audience throughout Canada and the USA.

There is one obvious limitation to this work; it is already dated. Some thirty new bishops have been named to fill vacancies in the intervening period since the work was published in 2002, and the Nuncio is busy preparing for more retirements in the near future. Yet, this bodes well for a revised and up-dated version at least every decade!

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