Vital-Justin Grandin
Vital-Justin Grandin | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of St. Albert | |
 Vital-Justin Grandin, c. 1900 | |
| Diocese | Diocese of St. Albert |
| In office | 1871–1902 |
| Successor | Émile-Joseph Legal |
| Other post(s) | Bishop of Satala (titular) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1854 (priest) |
| Consecration | 1859 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 February 1829 Saint-Pierre-sur-Orthe, France |
| Died | 3 June 1902 (aged 73) St. Albert, Alberta, Canada |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Vital-Justin Grandin (8 February 1829 – 3 June 1902) was a Roman Catholic priest and bishop. He served the Church in the western parts of what is now Canada both before and after Confederation.
Early life[edit]
Grandin was born in Saint-Pierre-sur-Orthe, France, on 8 February 1829. He was the ninth son in a family of fourteen children of Jean Grandin and Marie Veillard. He was ordained as a priest in 1854; one month later he was sent by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to Canada to perform missionary work in what was then Rupert's Land. Upon arrival he was sent to Saint-Boniface, where Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché was in charge. Grandin was subsequently assigned to a mission at Fort Chipewyan (now in Alberta). He next served at Île-à-la-Crosse (now in Saskatchewan) for a number of years.[1]
Life as bishop[edit]
In 1867, Taché proposed that the vicariate of Saskatchewan be formed with Grandin as vicar of missions. This took place in 1868; in the same year, Grandin attended the council of Quebec bishops in 1868 to discuss new religious boundaries in the Canadian northwest. As a result of these discussions, St. Boniface was elevated and the suffragan diocese of St Albert was created. In 1871, Vital-Justin Grandin was appointed bishop.
Grandin was an early supporter of the Canadian Indian residential school system believing that the best way for Indigenous peoples "to become civilized"[2]:159 was to educate the young. In 1880 he wrote a letter to then Public Works Minister Hector-Louis Langevin explaining that boarding schools were the best way to ensure children "forget the customs, habits & language of their ancestors".[2]:159
Grandin was never completely healthy; he had been a sickly child and also had a speech impediment, and his health deteriorated during his later years. He did however preside over the development and expansion of the Diocese of St. Albert, including the founding of new missions and churches throughout Alberta and the construction of hospitals and schools which, unusually for the time, were administered by members of female religious orders and lay clergy. Grandin's efforts to increase Francophone settlement in Alberta were less successful, but many francophone communities founded at the behest of Grandin (such as Beaumont, Lacombe, and Morinville) still exist in central and Northern Alberta.
Bishop Grandin died in office on 3 June 1902. He was declared venerable by the Roman Catholic Church in 1966.
Upon his death, Grandin was succeeded by Bishop Émile-Joseph Legal in the St. Albert diocese.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Jonquet, Émile (1903). Mgr. Grandin oblat de MArie Immaculée premier évêque de Saint-Albert (in French) (first ed.). Montréal: s. n. p. 1. OL 24604153M.
- ^ a b "Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1 Origins to 1939: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume 1" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
