A member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, his tenure as archbishop saw the establishment of the Institut Catholique de Paris and the construction of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre.

Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert was born on 13 December 1802, Aix-en-Provence to Pierre and Rose-Françoise Pécout Guilbert.

Joseph Hippolyte was baptized on 19 December in the Church of St. John of Malta, where he was later an altar boy, and took Latin classes.

Despite the opposition of his father, he joined the "Missionaries of Provence" and began his novitiate in January 1823[1] Guibert was ordained a priest in 1825.

Cardinal Guibert called upon Maurice Le Sage d'Hauteroche d'Hulst to take part in the administration of the diocese, but he was engaged principally in founding and organizing the Université Catholique de Paris.