Joseph Eugène Bruno Guigues was ordained as an Oblate priest in 1828. Appointed to the position of provincial superior of his community, he arrived in Canada in 1844. He was chosen to be the first bishop of Bytown (Ottawa) in 1847.
Bishop Guigues was interred at his cathedral on July 12, 1874. Notre Dame Cathedral was elevated to a basilica in 1879, and is the oldest existing church in Ottawa
After the bishop’s death, a monument to honour him was commissioned. It was sculpted by the artist Louis-Philippe Hébert and is located just outside the basilica.