Louis-Zéphirin Moreau

Louis-Zéphirin Moreau (1 April 1824 – 24 May 1901) was a Canadian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe from 1875 until his death in 1901. He was also the cofounder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Hyacinthe with Élisabeth Bergeron, and the founder of the Sisters of Sainte Martha.

Moreau was a frail child due to being born premature and so could not help his farmer parents work on their land. He dedicated himself to his studies and later his ecclesial studies despite the fact that illness forced him to slow down his studies which impeded on his progress to ordination. But a benefactor, Jean-Charles Prince, Coadjutor Bishop of Montreal, saw him advance towards his ordination and he served as an aide to several bishops in the diocesan secretariat and later as a diocesan vicar general.

In his role as a bishop he revitalized his diocese and erected several new parishes to further bolster the diocese's strength. He was known for his piousness and for his dedication to the religious life as evident in the foundation of two religious congregations he set himself.

After his death, Moreau's beatification was celebrated in 1987.

Life Louis-Zéphirin Moreau was born in Bécancour on 1 April 1824 to the farmers Louis-Zéphirin Moreau (26.8.1795–30.3.1871) and Marie–Marguerite Champoux (3.5.1798–25.12.1866) as the fifth of thirteen children with eleven of them having survived into adulthood. He was baptized just after his birth. He was a descendant of Jean Moreau from Saintonge and was the great-great-great grandson of one who settled at Batiscan in the second half of the 1600s. In 1844 he was introduced at that time to the Archbishop of Québec Joseph Signay who was making a pastoral visit to Nicolet. He was impressed with Moreau who accepted him as a candidate for the priesthood and provided him with the tonsure. His health had not improved much and so in September 1846 the Archbishop of Québec who advised him to return home and give up the priesthood since his health would just impede it. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XII on 21 June 1952 and he became titled as a Servant of God. while in remission and still undergoing treatment. John Paul II beatified Moreau on 10 May 1987.