Benjamin Pâquet

Benjamin Pâquet (or Paquet, pronounced [pɑkɛt]; March 27, 1832 – February 25, 1900) was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic priest and educationist. He was an extremely influential and controversial figure in 19th century Quebec religious politics, making numerous enemies amongst the French-Canadian ultramontane elite of the period. Three times his name was cited for potential bishopry, but each time his opponents successfully lobbied against his nomination or the decision makers simply settled for a less controversial choice.

Pâquet was born in 1832 in Saint-Nicolas, near Lévis, in what was then Lotbinière County, on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River opposite Québec City. The son of farmers Étienne Pâquet and Ursule Lambert, he was descended from an old, pious family of the area, and was closely related to theologian Louis-Adolphe Pâquet as well as to provincial MLA Étienne-Théodore Pâquet (both nephews). His higher studies, as well as those of his younger brother Louis-Honoré, were financed by his homonymous uncle, a wealthy merchant. Benjamin entered the Petit Séminaire de Québec in 1845.

In 1849, he was prompted by his mother, returning from a pilgrimage at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, to become a priest. His studies completed, he immediately enrolled at the Grand Séminaire, where his major achievement was relaunching the student newspaper, L'Abeille ("the Bee"), launched in the 1840s and whose publication had stopped. He was ordained in his home parish by then Bishop of Vancouver Island Modeste Demers, himself a Saint-Nicolas native. Assigned as assistant priest at Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral (a fairly elevated office for a starting priest), he was specifically in charge of servicing Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church. In 1862, however, he requested a teaching position at the Petit Seminaire, a request he was granted.

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