 He studied in Rome, Lille and Oxford and was ordained a priest on 15 April 1928 in Ottawa by Cardinal Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau and was then sent on a mission to Japan.On his appointment as Bishop of Hakodate, later diocese of Sendai (Japan) on 9 December 1935, he was then the youngest bishop in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.On 29 June 1936 he was consecrated by Cardinal Paolo Marella and the co-consecrators Archbishop Jean-Baptiste-Alix Chambon, MEP (Archdiocese of Tokyo) and Bishop Januarius Hayasaka Kyunosuke (Archdiocese of Nagasaki).