Louis Le Hunsec, C.S.Sp. (6 January 1878 – 25 December 1954) was a French missionary bishop who served as Superior General of the

Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

from 1926 to 1950. He spent most of his earlier career as a missionary in Senegal from 1903 to 1919.

Biography

Louis Le Hunsec was born in

Ploemeur Ploemeur (; br, Plañvour), sometimes written instead as Plœmeur, is a commune in the Morbihan department in the region of Brittany in north-western France. It is a western suburb of Lorient. Population The inhabitants are called the ''Ploeme ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, the son of Louis Pierre Le Hunsec et his wife Marie-Thérèse Le Gouhir, who were bakers. He attended the minor seminary of Sainte-Anne d'Auray. In October 1897 he joined the

in Orlu and then earned a diploma in philosophy and a licentiate in theology in Rome. He was ordained a priest on 21 September 1901 and took his final vows on 2 July 1902. He taught philosophy in the seminary in Chevilly for a year and then received permission to work as a missionary in Senegal, where he worked until 1919. In his first assignment he tutored the children of Admiral , commandant of the French naval station in Senegal, for a year, which allowed him time to get his footing. He then spent five years as an active missionary among the

Diolas The Jola or Diola (endonym: Ajamat) are an ethnic group found in Senegal, the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. Most Jola live in small villages scattered throughout Senegal, especially in the Lower Casamance region. The main dialect of the Jola la ...

Casamance , settlement_type = Geographical region , image_skyline = Senegal Casamance.png , image_caption = Casamance in Senegal , image_flag = Flag of Casamance.svg , image_shield = , motto ...

, the southern region of Senegal. After a sojourn of several months in France, he worked again in Dakar and Casamance before settling in Dakar where he worked as a curate, financial administrator, and eventually vicar general. On 4 September 1919, he was appointed councillor general of his order. He returned to Paris to head his order's community there and its colonial seminary. On 23 April 1920,

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his deat ...

appointed him

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox a ...

of Europus and

Vicar Apostolic A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pr ...

Senegambia The Senegambia (other names: Senegambia region or Senegambian zone,Barry, Boubacar, ''Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade'', (Editors: David Anderson, Carolyn Brown; trans. Ayi Kwei Armah; contributors: David Anderson, American Council of Le ...

. He received his episcopal consecration in Paris on 30 May 1920 from Bishop

Alexandre-Louis-Victor-Aimé Le Roy Alexandre-Louis-Victor-Aimé Le Roy, C.S.Sp. (19 January 1854 – 21 April 1938) was a French-born archbishop of the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, and the Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. He served as Apost ...

, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, assisted by Raymond-René Lerouge, Vicar Apostolic of French Guinea, who had just been ordained a bishop on 25 May 1920, and Father Alfred Louis Keiling, Prefect Apostolic of Upper Cimbebasia. At the time, a priest could participate as a co-consecrator in cases of necessity. On 26 June 1920, Le Hunsec was given the additional responsibilities of the Prefect Apostolic of Senegal. On 26 July 1926, he was elected to a twelve-year term as superior general of the Holy Ghost Fathers and he resigned his other positions. He was elected to a second term in 1938. On 24 February 1945, in recognition of his 25 years as a bishop, he was named titular archbishop of

Marcianopolis Marcianopolis or Marcianople (Greek: Μαρκιανούπολις), also known as Parthenopolis was an ancient Greek, then Roman capital city and archbishopric in Moesia Inferior. It is located at the site of modern-day Devnya, Bulgaria. The a ...

. He resigned as superior general in July 1950. In retirement he continued to live in the motherhouse of the Holy Ghost Fathers in Paris and he died there on 25 December 1954 at the age of 76.

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Archbishop Louis Le Hunsec, C.S.Sp.
at Catholic Hierarchy {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Hunsec, Louis 1878 births 1954 deaths People from Ploemeur 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa French Roman Catholic archbishops French Roman Catholic bishops in Africa Holy Ghost Fathers Roman Catholic bishops of Saint-Louis du Sénégal Roman Catholic bishops of Dakar

Biography

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