Francis was one of 6 sons of one of the most distinguished families in France. He excelled in his schoolwork and received an excellent education. Throughout his life, Francis's mother continuously served as an example of piety and encouraged him to be charitable to those who were less fortunate. His uncle was a bishop so he too desired to be a priest. He attended Seminary in Paris and was ordained a priest at the age of 26. As often happened in 17
th century France, clerics of noble families were destined for high office in comfortable places and many sought these offices with selfish ambition. Francis, however, was taken far outside of his comfort zone. He was called to leave the comfort of France as he was appointed as a church diplomat of Tongking in Vietnam for 7 years. He tried to retire, but was then appointed as the first Bishop of a new settlement called “New France”, now known as Quebec in Canada. The jungles of Tongking and the pioneer conditions of Quebec were far from the comforts he knew growing up in a noble French family. However, for the next 30 years of his life, Francis worked tirelessly in defense of the rights of the Native Americans as well as for the first establishments of the Church in Quebec. He built a Seminary to train new priests & today (2017), the archdiocese of Quebec has 610 priests. Blessed Francis died of ill health in the Seminary he founded at the age of 85. He is the first bishop of Canada and is often referred to as the Father of the Canadian Church.