On June 25, 1897, six months after Msgr. Fabre's death, Pope Leo XIII invited Canon Bruchési to become Archbishop of Montreal, and on August 8, Msgr. Louis-Nazaire Bégin, Archbishop of Quebec City, conferred upon him episcopal ordination at the Cathedral.

This appointment will not surprise anyone. By the age of forty-two, the new Archbishop had already shown aptitudes and qualities that justified Leo XIII's choice: keen intelligence, open-mindedness, doctrinal solidity, in-depth knowledge of the concerns and problems of the contemporary world, refinement of man, eloquence of the orator, love and respect for the Pope and the universal Church. His long episcopate of forty-two years, happy at first, then tragic, was to meet expectations and then arouse compassion.