Louis William Valentine Dubourg

Who was Louis William Valentine Dubourg?

Louis William Valentine Dubourg, S.S., French: Louis-Guillaume-Valentin Dubourg was a Sulpician bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the early years of the United States, and later an Archbishop in France. He was born in Cap Français, Saint-Domingue (present-day Cap-Haïtien, Haiti) to Pierre Dubourg and his wife, Marguerite (née Armand de Vogluzan).

Pierre Dubourg was a merchant from Bordeaux who had relocated temporarily to Saint-Domingue. His business interests included a trading warehouse and a coffee plantation. Although the family would retain interests in the island, young Louis was sent back to France at the age of two, to live with his maternal grandparents in Bordeaux and to be educated there. His early education was received at the College de Guyenne, a royal institution claiming a history dating back to the 3rd century.

Dubourg continued his education at the minor seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, entering on 12 October 1786. Saint-Sulpice was run by the Sulpician Fathers, who were dedicated to seminary education, and maintained a major seminary for the education of the sons of the nobility and a minor seminary for the education of commoners.