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Biography
Jean-Olivier Briand (January 23, 1715 – June 25, 1794) was the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Quebec from 1766 to 1784.
He was ordained as a priest in 1739 and left for Canada in 1741 with another priest, Abbé René-Jean Allenou de Lavillangevin, and the newly appointed bishop for Quebec City, Henri-Marie Dubreil de Pontbriand, in whose service Briand would remain during Pontbriand's 19 years as bishop.
He was consecrated as Bishop of Quebec on March 16, 1766, in Paris and resigned in 1784 to make room for a younger bishop. He retained episcopal powers but seldom exercised them during his last years.
Briand was a notable opponent of the American Revolution and served as a useful ally to the British administration under Guy Carleton. He notably excommunicated Maryland-born Jesuit priest John Carroll, who later, as bishop of Baltimore, was the first Catholic bishop in the United States, when the former tried to encourage Canadians to join the revolution.