He was a native of Cap Français in Sainte-Domingue. In 1790 he was ordained a priest in Paris, France. He fled to Baltimore during the French Revolution where he served as President of Georgetown College and founded St. Mary's College and Seminary. In 1795 he joined the Sulpicians. In 1812 he was appointed administrator of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas.
After an interval marked by rebellion against ecclesiastical authority by the trustees of the St. Louis Cathedral, the diocese of New Orleans was for the period 1809-1815 under the administration of John Carroll, first Archbishop of Baltimore. In 1812, Archbishop Carroll sent Louis William Valentine DuBourg to New Orleans as Apostolic Administrator.
In 1815, on a trip to Rome he was consecrated second Bishop of New Orleans (Bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas)
He served as a bishop from 1815 to 1826. In 1823 the name was changed to the Diocese of Louisiana. From 1826 he served as Bishop of Montauban in France. February 1833 he was appointed Archbishop of Besançon where he died in November of the same year.