CCHA, Report, 32 (1965), 29-35
St. Albert,
Cradle of the Catholic Church
in Alberta
Sister M. M.
CÔTÉ, S.G.M.
Foyer Youville,
St. Albert, Alta.
On the northern
border of Edmonton in the valley of the Sturgeon River lies the modern town of
St. Albert. Its hills, now overspread with mossy green lawns, are dotted with
comfortable homes of variegated hues. But a hundred and five years ago, these
same hills were covered with deciduous and evergreen forests, the haunt of
fur-bearing animals. Not a single humain being, as far as anybody knows, had
ever settled in the tranquil valley. Yet, it was this very spot that was to
become the centre of Catholicism in that section of our country now known as Alberta.
Before we unfold our story, however, we must, like the coureurs de bois of old, like the
buffalo hunters of the time, wander over the prairies in quest of a setting.
The great western tract of land from the
Hudson Bay to the Pacific, from the United States to the Arctic, known to the
French voyageurs as les pays d’en haut, was the property of the
Hudson Bay Company. Its inhabitants were 15,000 Métis eking out a day-to-day
existence by hunting and fishing.1 Some had acted as rowers for
the great fur company, but, with the introduction of the river steamer in the
early nineteenth century, they had been left without employment. Except for a
few who had settled on farms in the neighborhood of Red River (St. Boniface),
they continued to lead a nomadic life.2
In 1838 about forty Métis families pitched
their tents in the vicinity of Fort Edmonton. Continually in search of food and
not finding it in sufficient quantities, they fell a prey to the evils of
gambling and drinking and created a problem for Mr. Rowand, the chief factor.
It was he, who, in 1840, wrote to Bishop Provencher of St. Boniface to request
the aid of a Catholic priest, who, he thought, would establish order in the
carefree settlement.3 A second request for a similar favor followed
in 1841 when a Métis by the name of Piché went to interview Bishop Provencher
about the possibility of obtaining a resident priest for the Fort Edmonton
district.4 The choice fell
upon Father Jean-Baptiste Thibault who had been at Red River since 1833. After
two reconnoitering expeditions; one in 1842, the other in 1843, he came to
stay in 1844, and with Father Bourassa to share his labors, he took with him
forty Cree and Métis families and founded a settlement at Devil’s Lake, which
he rechristened Lake St. Anne, about fifty miles north-west of Fort Edmonton.5
1844 thus saw the solution of Factor
Rowand’s dilemma. But, in another way, 1844 was a momentous year for the Church
in Western Canada, marking as it did the creation of independent diocese at St.
Boniface.6 No longer could
the West count on Quebec for spiritual aid, except in the case of volunteers.
One of these volunteers, a missionary who was to become one of the great
figures of the Canadian West, Father Albert Lacombe, who, after his ordination
in 1849 had worked among the Métis of the Red River region at Pembina, came to
Lake St. Anne in 1852 to replace Fathers Thibault and Bourassa.7 For a whole
winter he was the only priest west of the Red River. The loneliness which he
experienced made him wish to join a religious congregation – a step which
would give both help and companionship. In 1849, while at Pembina, Father
Lacombe had been edified by the spirit of self-sacrifice of the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate8 who had been in
St. Boniface since 1845, the two first missionaries being Father Aubert and
Brother Taché, none other than the future Bishop Taché of St. Boniface. Father
Lacombe was inspired to request to join their ranks. But his wish was not to be
granted until 1854, when, still a rover of the plains among his beloved Métis,
he became a novice under the guidance of Father Rémas. On September 28, 1856,
he pronounced his vows9 and was at last an Oblate of Mary Immaculate.
The Oblate Fathers could well carry on the
work of converting the natives, but what was to assure a future to their
efforts? It was evident that teachers were needed, teaching Sisters who might
set up establishments in various centres to educate the youth, and thus
complete in a way, the work of the priests. But which Sisters would venture out
to such a desolate wilderness? Bishop Taché found the answer – the Grey Nuns,
the Sisters of Charity of Montreal who, according to His Excellency, Bishop
Bourget of Montreal, “never refused anything.”10 Bishop
Provencher had been successful in 1844 in persuading the Grey Nuns to come out
to St. Boniface. In 1858 Bishop Taché obtained three recruits for the new
mission post of Lake St. Anne: Sisters Emery, Lamy, and Alphonse. After
spending six months in St. Boniface to become attuned to the rigors of mission
life, they set out in a springless Red River ox-cart on a
nine-hundred-mile-fifty-one-day trek across the prairies, reaching Lake St.
Anne on September 24, 1859.11 Their first
convent was the log cabin previously built by Fathers Thibault and Bourassa.12 They spent their
evenings learning Cree from Father Lacombe, so that, during the day, they might
converse with the colonists and instruct them in their religious duties.13 Within two weeks
they had opened a school with an attendance of twenty pupils.14
As time went on, everybody realized that
Lake St. Anne was not the paradise that had been anticipated. In 1860 the rocky
soil gave a poor crop, and it was only the autumn catch of fish that saved the
little colony from starvation.15
Then came about an event which was to
change the whole course of the lives of the missionaries. In the latter part of
1860, Bishop Taché, while visiting the scattered mission posts of the vast
diocese (it included the whole Canadian Northwest), spent the Christmas season
at Lake St. Anne. Since the previous autumn Father Lacombe’s mind had been
working. Why not move to a place nearer to the mission of St. Joachim at Fort
Edmonton? What about the possibility of establishing an agricultural
settlement at Lake St. Anne? It had been tried and had been found wanting. Yet,
with the disappearance of the buffalo, such a settlement was a necessity if the
colonists were to survive. So, on a cold January morning, Father Lacombe led
the bishop to a hill overlooking the valley of the Sturgeon. While they were
partaking of a meagre meal of pemmican, Father Lacombe extolled the benefits of
the locality. He was aware of the value of establishing here a mission post; for
had he not rested on the top of this same knoll on his journeys between Lake
St. Anne and Fort Edmonton? The rich virgin soil, the green grassy hills, the
wooded growth, the river running through the valley, the lake in the distance –
all these had not escaped his discerning eye. And Fort Edmonton was only nine
miles away! Finally, Bishop Taché exclaimed, “What a magnificent site! It is
indeed suitable for a mission post. When you establish it, we shall call it St.
Albert in honor of your patron saint.” And planting in the snow a sapling
bough, Bishop Taché continued, “on this spot you will build the church.”16 Father Lacombe’s
hopes soared. As he went back alone to Lake St. Anne, he revolved in his mind
his future, plans.
In the spring of 1861 Father Lacombe left
the Sisters and the greater part of the population at Lake St. Anne, and,
accompanied by a few Métis families, he set out for St. Albert, taking with him
four oxen, a few horses, a plough, tools, and a large buffalo skin tent. The
later was to be both residence and church until such time as suitable buildings
might be erected. The contingent reached St. Albert on a Saturday in April.
Sunday after Mass, Father Lacombe put up a wooden cross to mark the spot where
the bishop had planted the sapling bough. He spent the remainder of the day
thinking and planning.17
On Monday morning the men crossed the
Sturgeon River on a raft and began to cut down the trees that covered the hill
to the south. For ten days the staccato of the axe accompanied the hum of the
saw. The building materials thus prepared were loaded into carts which were
drawn by oxen to the river’s edge and drifted across on a crude ferry
constructed by Father Lacombe. Meanwhile the women had not been idle, for it
was they who had prepared the meals for the men so busy in the woods.18
After ten days the work so well begun had
to be interrupted to attend to another urgent matter – the land was dry enough
to be ploughed. With only one implement, Father Lacombe, anxious to finish the
ploughing and seeding so that the work of construction might begin, devised a
means of accelerating the tasks. He had the men work in relays; one group
during the day, the other during the night. In a short time the first grain had
been sown in St. Albert and the first garden seeds planted.19
While his people were thus occupied, the
ubiquitous Father Lacombe managed to travel from St. Albert to Fort Edmonton
and from there to Lake St. Anne, advising and encouraging wherever he went. The
Métis continued to emigrate from Lake St. Anne until there were twenty families
in St. Albert. Then, Father Lacombe, like a feudal lord, apportioned the land
on either side of the Sturgeon, allowing each family a river lot. All used the
tent as a temporary dwelling and sowed their acres to various grains and seeds.
That fall St. Albert was
blessed with a bountiful harvest. On the river banks could be seen twenty log
huts, and at the top of the hill stood a log church, a residence for the
priest, storehouses for vegetables, a barn, and a stable. Father Lacombe’s
dream had come true – to establish on the banks of the Sturgeon a capital from
which might emanate other stations to help further the work of colonization, of
civilization, of christianizing.
With the thaw in the spring of 1862, the
work of building began anew. The river was spanned by a wooden bridge, and a
convent for the Sisters, whom Father Lacombe intended to recall from Lake St.
Anne, was begun.20 April of 1863 found the three Grey Nuns in
St. Albert. They were followed by twenty Métis families who eventually occupied
farms along the river.21 In 1868 the diocese of St. Albert was created
with Bishop Vital Grandin as its first titular bishop.22
The years after 1870 saw an influx of
settlers from eastern Canada, and St. Albert slowly changed its status: hamlet
to village (1899), village to town (1902). By 1888 the population had reached
the 1000-figure: 840 Métis, 126 French, and 30 English.23 With changes in
the nature of the population, this figure was to remain fairly constant until
the middle of the twentieth century when a great town-planning programme
brought the town to the verge of city status. The school population testifies
to this. In 1863 the school enrolment was twenty. By 1898 it had increased to
150,24 and this was to remain constant until 1950. At the present time three
school districts educate nearly 3,000 students.
Nobody had questioned the qualifications of
the first four teachers in St. Albert: Sister Alphonse, Sister Blanchette,
Sister St. Genevieve, and Sister Paquette; but after 1885, when, at the request
of the citizens of St. Albert, the Board of Education in Regina created the St.
Albert Roman Catholic Public School District No. 3, all aspirants to the teaching
profession in the North West Territories were obliged to write examinations set
by this same Board of Education before being granted a teacher's certificate.25 Sister Dillon
and Sister Marie of the Angels were the first Grey Nuns to obtain a First Class
Certificate after passing these examinations.26 Both taught in
St. Albert until the turn of the century. After 1890, however, all future
teachers were required to attend normal school. Sister Savard and Sister
Surprenant were the first Grey Nuns to obtain teachers’ certificates after
attending the Calgary Normal School in 1907. In 1909 both were teaching in St.
Albert. Sister Savard was destined to train many young Sisters to become
teachers. Of the 120 teachers now in the St. Albert Schools, only five are
Sisters. Our one hope is that we are still continuing the work so well begun by
our first teacher, Sister Alphonse.
The first missionary Sisters had established
a hospital in St. Albert. It cared for the sick and infirm until 1895 when the
General Hospital in Edmonton took over its functions.27 The idea of
maintaining a hospital in St. Albert, however, did not die out. Although
education seemed to be the main work for many years, and all the additions to
Youville Convent were directed toward the education of orphans and Indian
children, 1941 brought a change. In that year the Indian School was closed and
an old folks’ home set up.28 At the present time, to conform to recent
government regulations, a new modern old folks’ nursing home is under
construction. Next fall, the buildings now standing, that have seen so much of
the history of St. Albert, will be demolished. It is the general feeling that a
landmark will vanish with them.
Since 1863 Youville Home has had twenty
superiors, and, since 1898, when an ecclesiastical province was formed, fifteen
provincial superiors.29
In 1900 the old log cathedral built by the
first Métis families under the direction of Father Lacombe, was replaced by a
frame structure. But since 1922 a huge church of Romanesque style overlooks the
valley of the Sturgeon. The first three priests, Father Lacombe, Father Leduc,
and Father Mérier are known by the title of “resident missionaries” for it was
not until 1902 that St. Albert was made a parish. Father Mérier became the
first pastor and has had twelve successors.30
While St. Albert was the episcopal see for
the diocese, two bishops resided here: Bishop Vital Grandin (1868-1902), and
Bishop Emile Legal (1902-1912). In 1912 the see was transferred to Edmonton,
and Bishop Legal became the first archbishop of Edmonton.31
The letters of the first missionaries
picture St. Albert as lonely and secluded. Even the short trip to Edmonton
required courage. In 1879, however, with the building of a telegraph line came
the beginning of better days. 1892 saw a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway
connect Calgary (where the Grey Nuns had set up a hospital in 1890) with
Edmonton. When, in 1908, a branch line of the Canadian Northern Railway from
Edmonton to Athabaska Landing passed through St. Albert, the inhabitants at
last felt that they were part of Canada.32 Now they could
travel by rail almost wherever they wished. With the passing of time came paved
roads, and bus and taxi services. Travelling became a joy.
Charles Dickens entitles one of his
chapters in A Tale of Two Cities, “Back to the Lodestone Rock.” That statement
could well apply to the seminary in Alberta. Blessed in 1899 by Bishop Grandin,
it remained in St. Albert until after the transfer of the episcopal see to
Edmonton, located as it was on the corner of 110 Street and 100 Avenue. In
1956, however, the seminary came back to St. Albert in a new up-to-date
structure located just on the boundary between St. Albert and Edmonton.
Now, let us visit the hill where in 1861
Bishop Taché had planted the sapling bough in the snow. On that very spot
stands a beautiful bronze statue of Father Lacombe, erected in 1929. Directly
north is our beautiful spacious parish church in the crypt of which are the
tombs of the first missionaries: Father Lacombe, Bishop Grandin, and Father Leduc.
To the west of the church is the Lacombe Museum – none other than that first
log cathedral housed in a brick jacket and containing a collection of
souvenirs of the early missionaries. Still farther north is the Grotto of Our
Lady of Lourdes, where each year, on the Sunday nearest the fifteenth of
August, we have a pilgrimage. To the east are the Star of the North Retreat
House and the rectory. In the background, in a quiet corner is the cemetery.
Near the insignia of the Oblate Fathers rest the mortal remains of Bishop
Legal, and several rows of crosses on either side of a well-kept walk mark the
graves of all the Oblate Fathers who have lived and died in the bounds of St.
Albert ecclesiastical province. A few steps farther south, in the Sisters’ plot,
shaded by a huge spruce tree, are two graves, that of the first teacher, Sister
Alphonse who died on October 7, 1879; and that of Sister Emery, the first
Superior who died on August 5, 1885. The former had never once, after coming to
the West, returned to her beloved Motherhouse in Montreal.
Is it not a tribute to the people of St. Albert, that in naming streets and buildings, they remembered the work so well performed by the early missionaries? So, facing the church, we have St. Vital Avenue, and elsewhere in the town, Emery Street. Even our schools stand as a witness to the labors of those who founded our town: Vital Grandin School, St. Albert High School, Albert Lacombe School, and Father Jan School. Youville Nursing Home west of the church has been named in honor of the Blessed Marguerite d’Youville, the foundress of the congregation of the Grey Nuns. A glance farther afield, at the map of Alberta this time, shows the respect the people had for the missionaries. Lacombe, Leduc, Grouard, Joussard, Vegreville all call to mind the sacrifices of those who left kinsfolk and country that the Church might thrive. The early missionaries have indeed left a remarkable heritage.
1Tétrault, Alexis,
o.m.i., “Historic St. Albert,” Alberta Historical Review, Vol. II, No.
2, p. 11.
2Tétrault, Alexis,
o.m.i., “Historic St. Albert,” Alberta Historical Review: Vol. II, No.
2, p. 12.
3Ibid.
4Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs, McLeod, N. W. T., March 10, 1890.
5Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs, McLeod, N. W. T., March 17, 1890.
6Ibid.
7Ibid.
8Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs, McLeod, N. W. T., May 26, 1890.
9Ibid.
10Fauteux, Albina,
s.g.m., The General Hospital of Montreal, Grey Nuns’ Mother House, 1190
Guy Street, Montreal: Vol. II, p. 205.
11Drouin,
Clémentine, s.g.m., The General Hospital of Montreal Vol. III, p. 62.
12Ibid.
13Archives, Youville Home, 9
St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert, Alberta.
14Ibid.
15Archives, Youville Home, 9
St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert, Alberta.
16Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 121, McLeod, N. W. T., 1890.
17Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs (1861), McLeod, N. W. T., 1890.
18Ibid.
19Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs (1861), McLeod, N. W. T., 1890.
20Lacombe, Albert,
o.m.i., Memoirs (1862), McLeod, N. W. T., 1890.
21Ibid. (1863).
22Ibid. (1868).
23Archives, Youville Home, 9
St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert.
24Archives, Youville Home, 9
St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert.
25N.W.T. Gazette, Provincial
Archives, Legislative Building, Regina, Sas. katchewan.
26Archives, Youville Home,
9 St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert.
27N.W.T. Gazette, Provincial
Archives, Legislative Building, Regina, Saskatchewan.
28Archives, Youville Home, 9
St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert.
29Archives, Youville Home, 9
St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert.
30Ibid.
31Codex Historicus, Oblate
Archives, 9916 -110 Street, Edmonton, Alberta.
32Archives, Youville Home,
9 St. Vital Avenue, St. Albert.