Father Pierre Côté passed away on the morning of Sunday 8 February 2026 at the Résidence Notre-Dame de Richelieu, where he had been living since mid-September 2025. He was 82 years old. He suffered from respiratory difficulties and heart problems. Despite his failing health, Pierre remained serene until the end. He continued to receive visits from loved ones and people he had known during his years of priestly ministry.
Pierre was born on 4 July 1943 in Sherbrooke. He was the youngest of 21 children. One brother survives him. After completing his secondary and college studies at the Sherbrooke Seminary, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, then located in Saint-Jérôme, on 14 August 1961. He pronounced his first vows in 1963. He then accelerated his Jesuit training: after two years of philosophy studies, he spent a year as a regent at Sacred Heart College in Sudbury, where he taught chemistry. At the end of his third year of theology, he was ordained a priest in Saint-Jérôme in 1969. This was an important milestone in his spiritual journey. He wrote in the issue of Canadian Jesuits dedicated to new priests: “It is a dream I want to live, to become a priest of Jesus Christ. To share with others the friendship of the One who loved me first.” From the beginning of his formation, in his pastoral work he was particularly at ease working with adolescents and youth. After completing his theological studies in Montreal, he went to Rome in 1970 to pursue a doctorate in moral theology on issues related to marriage. He defended his thesis in the spring of 1973.
Upon his return to Montreal in the summer of that same year, he was appointed to the parish of Immaculée-Conception. He himself had expressed to the Provincial that he preferred pastoral work to teaching and research. He worked there for 14 years, as vicar and pastor, while also collaborating with the diocesan Marriage Preparation Ministry. In the summer of 1992, he was appointed episcopal vicar of the Archdiocese of Montreal by Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, with the approval of Father General. As indicated in a document from the Archdiocese, the episcopal vicar, “at the head of a pastoral region, is charged by the Archbishop with ensuring, in relation to the various diocesan authorities, the promotion and coordination of the life of the Church.” Pierre held this position until 2010. To thank him for his long and faithful service to the Archdiocese (41 years, in various capacities), Cardinal Turcotte awarded him the Monseigneur Ignace-Bourget Diocesan Merit Award.
In the summer of 2014, the Provincial of French Canada appointed him Provincial Treasurer. He held this position in the new Province of Canada until the summer of 2019.
