Jump to content

Archdiocese of Saint Boniface

From Catholicism Wiki
Archdiocese of Saint Boniface
Archidioecesis Sancti Bonifacii
Location
Country Canada
Ecclesiastical province Saint Boniface
Population 112,620 (25.2%)
Information
Denomination Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established 1871
Cathedral St. Boniface Cathedral
Current leadership
Pope Leo XIV
Archbishop Albert LeGatt
Bishops emeritus Émilius Goulet
Website
archsaintboniface.ca

Archdiocese of Saint Boniface — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface (Latin: Archidioecesis Sancti Bonifacii) is a Latin archdiocese in part of the civil Province of Manitoba in Canada. Despite having no suffragan dioceses, the archdiocese is nominally metropolitan and is an ecclesiastical province by itself. It is currently led by Archbishop Albert LeGatt.

The cathedral of the archdiocese is a minor basilica, St. Boniface Cathedral, Winnipeg.

History

In 1817, settlers at the Red River Colony petitioned Joseph-Octave Plessis, Bishop of Quebec, for a resident priest. In 1818, Plessis sent Rev. Joseph-Norbert Provencher, Rev. Dumoulin and seminarian Guilaume Etienne Edge to open a mission on the Red River in present-day Manitoba, where the majority of settlers were Irish and Scottish Catholics.[1] Provencher's assignment was to convert the Indian nations and to "morally improve" the delinquent Christians who had "adopted the ways of the Indians."[2]

Arriving at Fort Douglas in mid-July, they were given land on the east bank of the Red River by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, of the Hudson's Bay Company. They immediately set to work to build a house before winter. Part of the building served as a chapel, which Provencher dedicated to the missionary, Saint Boniface. The mission at Saint-Boniface was highly successful. In 1819, Provencher was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec with the titular title of Bishop of Juliopolis, and vicar general for the northwest. A second parish, St. François Xavier, was established in 1828 for a Métis community established by Cuthbert Grant at White Horse Plains.[3]

Construction of Saint-Boniface Cathedral commenced in 1832 and was completed in 1839. In 1844, Bishop Provencher persuaded four sisters of the Grey Nuns of Montreal to come to Saint-Boniface.[4] In 1845, the Vicariate Apostolic of the North West was formed with Provencher as ordinary.[5] The area separated from Archdiocese of Québec comprised the entire territory west of the Great Lakes and as far north as the Pole. In 1847, the North West Vicariate was raised to the status of diocese, suffragan to Québec. In June 1850, Oblate missioner Alexandre-Antonin Taché was named coadjutor bishop to Provencher, whom he succeeded upon Provencher's death in July 1853. The following year, the name of the diocese was changed from that of the Diocese of the North West to the Diocese of Saint-Boniface.[6]

On April 8, 1862 the Apostolic Vicariate of Athabaska Mackenzie was erected from territory split off from the Diocese of Saint-Boniface. On September 22, 1871 Saint-Boniface was raised to a metropolitan archdiocese, while at the same time, it lost territory with the establishment of the Diocese of Saint Albert. Taché became the first archbishop. In 1874, he brought the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary from Québec to teach at St. Mary's Academy (Winnipeg). The area of the Archdiocese was again reduced on July 11, 1882 as part of its contribution to the Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, but was increased in 1889 with the reassignment of some land from the Diocese of Saint Albert.

Established On 4 June 1891, the Apostolic Vicariate of Saskatchewan was established from territory drawn from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface. In 1900, under Archbishop Adélard Langevin, Holy Ghost Parish was established in North Winnipeg to serve Polish Catholics. In 1904, St. Joseph's was founded for the German Catholics in the community. The French church of Sacré Coeur was dedicated in 1905 for former parishioners of St. Mary's. In 1898, Langevin asked the Soeurs de Misericorde from Montreal to assist unwed mothers. They opened, in 1900, a maternity hospital which later developed into Misericordia Health Centre.

The Diocese of Regina was erected on March 4, 1910 from Saint-Boniface, as was the Archdiocese of Winnipeg on December 4, 1915 and the Diocese of Fort William on April 29, 1952.

St. Boniface Cathedral

The present cathedral stands on a site that has seen two churches and four cathedrals. The original log chapel was built by Provencher in 1818 and subsequently replaced by a larger structure. In 1832, Provencher, now a bishop, built the first cathedral which was destroyed by fire on December 14, 1860. In 1862, Bishop Alexandre Antonin Taché rebuilt the cathedral in stone. A larger building was completed in 1908 in French Romanesque style, and was designated a minor basilica in 1949. This sustained significant damage in a 1968 fire. The present Saint-Boniface incorporates some features of its predecessor, notably the impressive façade.[7]

Bishops

Diocesan Ordinaries

Apostolic Vicar of North-West
Suffragan Bishops of Saint-Boniface
Archbishops of Saint-Boniface
  • Alexandre-Antonin Taché O.M.I. (see above 1871.09.22 – death 1894.06.22)
  • Louis Philip Adélard Langevin (1895.01.08 – death 1915.06.15)[8]
  • Arthur Béliveau (1915.11.09 – death 1955.09.14), succeeding as former Auxiliary Bishop of Saint-Boniface (1913.05.24 – 1915.11.09) and Titular Bishop of Domitiopolis (1913.05.24 – 1915.11.09)
  • Maurice Baudoux (1955.09.14 – retired 1974.09.07), previously Bishop of Saint-Paul (Alberta, Canada) (1948.08.12 – 1952.03.04), then Titular Archbishop of Preslavus (1952.03.04 – 1955.09.14) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Saint-Boniface (1952.03.04 – succession 1955.09.14); died 1988
  • Antoine Hacault (1974.09.07 – death 2000.04.13), previously Titular Bishop of Media (1964.07.30 – 1972.10.28) as Auxiliary Bishop of Saint-Boniface (1964.07.30 – 1972.10.28), then Titular Archbishop of the same Media (1972.10.28 – 1974.09.07) as Coadjutor Archbishop of Saint-Boniface (1972.10.28 – succession 1974.09.07)
  • Émilius Goulet, Sulpicians (P.S.S.) (2001.06.23 – retired 3 July 2009)
  • Albert LeGatt (3 July 2009 –...), previously Bishop of Saskatoon (Canada) (2001.07.26 – 2009.07.03).

Coadjutor bishops

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

  • Pierre-Emile-Jean-Baptiste-Marie Grouard, O.M.I. (priest here, 1862–1863), appointed Vicar Apostolic of Athabaska Mackenzie, Alberta in 1890
  • Léo Blais, appointed Bishop of Prince-Albert, Saskatchewan in 1952
  • Aimé Décosse, appointed Bishop of Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan in 1953
  • Remi Joseph De Roo, appointed Bishop of Victoria, British Columbia in 1962
  • Noël Delaquis, appointed Bishop of Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan in 1973 (resigned that see in 1995; returned to this diocese in 2014)
  • Raymond Roussin, Born In St Vital, Bishop of Gravelbourg 1995–1999, Bishop of Victoria 1999–2004, Archbishop of Vancouver 2004-2009
  • Marcel Damphousse, appointed Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, Ontario in 2012

Statistics and extent

The archdiocese covers much of the province south of Lake Winnipeg and east of the Red River. It is a bilingual French and English archdiocese. Saint Boniface is a city ward of Winnipeg that sits on the east side of the Red River, and the area is a traditional home of Franco-Manitobans.

As of 2021, the archdiocese contains 87 parishes chaplaincies and missions, 59 diocesan priests, 23 religious priests, 5 seminarians and 135,309 Catholics. It also has 143 Women Religious, 8 Religious Brothers, and 19 permanent deacons. The archdiocese and the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg jointly operate a number of parochial schools in Winnipeg.

See also

Sources - Bibliography

49°53′22″N 97°07′26″W / 49.8895°N 97.1238°W

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church.[9]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Archdiocese of Saint Boniface — (Sancti Bonifacii). Archdiocese; the chief ecclesiastical division of the Canadian West, so-called after the patron saint of the German soldiers who were among its first settlers.

Successive Areas

It commenced its official existence as the vicariate-apostolic of the north-west in 1844, though Bishop Provencher, its titular, had been there with episcopal rank since 1822. At that time it comprised the entire territory west of the Great Lakes and as far north as the Pole. The same circumscription became a diocese without changing name on 4 June, 1847, but received in 1852 the title of Diocese of St. Boniface. In May, 1862, all the territory tributary to the Arctic Sea was detached therefrom and made into the Vicariate-Apostolic of Athabasca-Mackenzie. On 22 Sept., 1871, the See of St. Boniface was raised to the rank of an archbishopric, while, out of the north-western portion of its territory, a new diocese was being carved, with headquarters at St. Albert, near Edmonton. The northeastern part of this area further became in 1890 the Vicariate-Apostolic of the Saskatchewan, and this arrangement left to the Archdiocese of St. Boniface 109° W. long. for its western boundary, while in the north this ran along 52° N. lat. as far as the eastern limit of Manitoba, following afterwards the northern end of Lake Manitoba and the Nelson River to Fort York. The eastern boundary was 91° W. long. With the formation of the Diocese of Regina (4 March, 1910) new delimitations became necessary. They are the following: in the south the international boundary as far as 91° W. long.; thence north to a line continuous with the northern limits of Manitoba, as far as the line dividing this province from Saskatchewan, which now becomes the western limit of the archdiocese.

Population and Organization

The Catholic population within the present area is 87,816. Though partaking of the cosmopolitan character proper to the Canadian West, the various groups in this population are more compact. Thus the 29,595 diocesans of French extraction control four counties absolutely. The nationality most numerously represented is that of the Galicians, who number 32,637. The English speaking Catholics live mostly in towns, and are estimated at 9485. The same might almost be said of the Poles, who number 9369. The Germans count 2062 souls, and the Indians about 2000. In 1853, when Mgr Taché succeeded Bishop Provencher, the entire diocese, vast as it then was, counted but two parishes with as many unorganized annexes, and three Indian missions with resident priests, Besides the bishop, 4 secular and 7 Oblate priests attended to the spiritual needs of the Catholic population. At the time of the accession of the present archbishop the number of parishes had grown to thirty-five, though the area of the diocese had in the meantime been considerably diminished. There were then 85 churches or chapels, with 67 priests, of whom 31 belonged to the secular clergy. To-day, with a still more reduced territory, the archdiocese counts 1 archbishop, 1 Roman prelate, and 162 priests, of whom 95 are members of the regular clergy. Apart from the two dignitaries, 138 of the priests have French for their mother-tongue; 9 are English-speaking; 6 are Poles, 5 Germans, 2 Dutch, 2 Galicians, and 1 Italian. The religious orders of men in the archdiocese are the following: Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 47 priests; Jesuits, 12; Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception, 11; Trappists, 10.; Sons of Mary Immaculate, 9; Redemptorists, 4; Clerics of St. Viator, 2; Basllians of the Ruthenian Rite, 2. Independently of these two last, the Galician population is ministered to by 2 French priests who have adopted the Ruthenian Rite, as well as by a few Redemptorists and some Oblates, while 3 more French priests are in Austria preparing for the same ministry.

Institutions

The institutions of the archdiocese are: 1 college under the Jesuits, with 350 pupils; 1 lower seminary (founded 1909) with 45 pupils; 1 Oblate juniorate; 2 general hospitals; 1 maternity hospital; 1 house of refuge for girls; 3 orphan asylums; 1 asylum for old people; and 6 Indian boarding schools. The State-supported Catholic schools having been officially abolished in 1890 (see Manitoba), the two cities of Winnipeg and Brandon, where the majority of the population is Protestant, force the Catholics to pay double taxes, since the latter have to maintain their own schools as well as those of the Protestants. But, in virtue of an agreement between the present archbishop and the Government, the country schools continue to be conducted along Catholic lines. The American Brothers of the Society of Mary direct the English parochial schools of Winnipeg and St. Boniface, while French Brothers of the Cross of Jesus render the same services at St. Pierre. As to the Orders of women within the archdiocese, they are: Grey Nuns (first arrived in 1844); Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary; Sisters of Notre Dame des Missions; Sisters of Providence; Sisters of St. Joseph; Sisters of Our Lady of the Cross; Sisters of the Five Wounds of Our Saviour; Sisters of Mercy; the Franciscan Missionaries Of Mary, and the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate, founded by the present archbishop.

History

The principal events in the history of the archdiocese are intimately connected with the lives of its bishops, which will be found under the heads Provencher and Taché. In addition to these and to the data already furnished in the course of the article are to be mentioned the burning (14 Dec., 1860) of the first stone cathedral, whose "turrets twain" have been sung by the poet Whittier. A new and somewhat more modest edifice was soon after put up, which had to be razed to make room for the monumental cathedral erected by Taché's successor, Archbishop Adélard L. P. Langevin, O.M.I. The new temple is a massive stone building of Byzantine style, with a reproduction of the "turrets twain) if the poet. With its sacristy it measures 312 feet in length and 280 feel along, inside with a proportionate width. Its first stone was laid on 15 Aug., 1906, and the edifice was solemnly blessed 4 Oct. 1908. In the modest church which it replaced the First Provincial Council of St. Boniface took place in 1889, with six bishops in attendance. The present incumbent of the see was b. at St. Isidore de Laprairie, Diocese of Montreal, 24 Aug., 1855, he became an oblate 25 July, 1882, and was consecrated at St. Boniface 19 March, 1895.

Quite a galaxy of brilliant public men have shed lustre on the still young Diocese of St. Boniface. Without mentioning several French half-breeds who occupied high posts on the bench or in the provincial legislature, we may name M. A. Girard, who was successively Member of Parliament, speaker of the Assembly and Premier of Manitoba; Joseph Royal, a writer of note, who, after having been a member of the Manitoba Government was appointed Governor of the North-West Territories; James McKay, a convert, who filled the role of President of the Council in the Girard Cabinet; Joseph Dubuc, who was successively legislator, Crown minister, and speaker of the legislature, and ended his public career as Chief Justice of his adoptive province.

The Official Catholic Directory (New York, 1911); and especially unpublished documents furnished by the Archdiocese of St. Boniface; MORICE E, History of the Catholic Church in Western Canada (Toronto, 1910).

References

  1. Back to citation Lemieux, Lucien (1985). "Provencher, Joseph-Norbert". In Halpenny, Francess G. (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VIII (1851–1860) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  2. Back to citation "Catholic Mission of Saint-Boniface", Cathedral of Saint-Boniface
  3. Back to citation Morton, William. "Memorable Manitobans: Cuthbert James Grant (1793–1854)", Manitoba Historical Society
  4. Back to citation Pedersen, Anne-marie et al., "Grey Nuns", The Canadian Encyclopedia, July 25, 2019
  5. Back to citation "History", Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, Manitoba
  6. Back to citation "The Catholic Church in Manitoba to 1916", Archdiocese of Winnipeg
  7. Back to citation Girard, David. "The Cathedrals of Saint-Boniface", Encyclopedia of French cultural Heritage in North America
  8. Back to citation Perin, Roberto (1998). "Langevin, Adélard (baptized Louis-Philippe-Adélard)". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XIV (1911–1920) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  9. Back to citation Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, official website
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Archdiocese_of_Saint_Boniface&oldid=48943"