Louis Philippe Adélard Langevin (; August 23, 1855 – June 15, 1915) was a Canadian

Oblate In Christianity (specifically the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person associated with a Benedictine monastery or convent who is specifically dedicated to God and service. Oblates are i ...

priest and

Archbishop of Saint-Boniface The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface () 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 it ...

. He founded the '' La Liberté'' newspaper published in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

on May 20, 1913. He was the energetic leader of the Catholic struggle to restore language and religious rights in the

Manitoba Schools Question The Manitoba Schools Question () was a political crisis in the Canadian province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, attacking publicly-funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants. The crisis was precipitated by a ...

Life

Langevin was born in Saint-Isidore, near La Prairie,

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

, one of sixteen children of François-Théophile and Marie-Paméla Racicot Langevin. In 1875 he entered the

Sulpician The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...

Grand Séminaire de Montréal and then studied at

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

St. Mary's College, the English branch of the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal.Goldsborough, Gordon. "Memorable Manitobans: Louis Philippe Adelard Langevin (1855-1915)", Manitoba Historical Society, June 28, 2019
/ref> Langevin joined the

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation wa ...

at Lachinein 1881, and was ordained a priest the following year by Monsignor Édouard-Charles Fabre, Bishop of Montreal. After his ordination, Langevin preached retreats and temperance crusades throughout the diocese of Montreal. He contracted smallpox during the epidemic of 1885."Langevin, Adélard", Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec
/ref> Langevin became director of the major seminary in Ottawa and taught moral theology at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. In 1890, he was appointed vice-dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Ottawa. He went to Paris to attended the general chapter of the Oblates. In 1892 he received the degree of D.D. That same year, fellow Oblate Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Archbishop of Saint Boniface, requested Langevin be assigned to Manitoba as superior of the oblates in the archdiocese. He was also made rector of the English-speaking parish of St. Mary's in Winnipeg.

Archbishop

Upon the death of Taché in June 1894, Langevin was named to succeed him as Archbishop of Saint Boniface. He was installed in 1895. During his episcopacy, Langevin was concerned with the question of the educational rights of Catholics on the Prairies after the abolition of the denominational school system in 1890. A defender of equality between French and English Canadians, Langevin had a number of confrontations with Anglophone Catholic leaders. He believed that the viability of Catholic culture in North America depended on both language and denominational instruction, and was not satisfied with the adoption of the Laurier-Greenway regulations in 1896, which allowed education in a language other than English, under certain conditions, and which authorized religious education in public schools after school hours. Langevin believed that the new immigrants could become good Canadians while remaining faithful Catholics. He hoped that the new communities settling in the West could keep their language and their religion and fought for the diversity of cultures by offering new immigrants services in their language. To this end, Holy Ghost Parish was established in North Winnipeg to serve Polish Catholics. In 1904, St. Joseph's was founded for the German Catholics. The French church of Sacré Coeur was dedicated in 1905 for former parishioners of St. Mary's. Langevin was unfamiliar with the Eastern rite, and thought that the many Ukrainian immigrants settling around Winnipeg would do better to adapt to the Rite of their new country. The Ukrainians were reluctant to take up the Latin rite, which to them was foreign. Around 1902, Oblate missioner Albert Lacombe had persuaded some Basilian Fathers to establish a mission at Beaver Lake in Alberta. Impressed with their work, Langevin wrote the Basilian superior requesting priests for the Ukrainians of Winnipeg. Two Basilian priests arrived by the end of 1903. Langevin built for them St. Nicholas Church and rectory. Members of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate established a mission at St. Nicholas in 1905. In 1911, Langevin built them a school. The Apostolic Exarchate of Canada was established in 1912. He promoted the establishment of around twenty religious communities in its archdiocese. 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 Misericordia Health Centre was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by the Misericordia Sisters in 1898. Today, ownership of the hospital is the responsibility of the Misericordia Corporation within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg, A ...

. In 1902, he co-founded the Société historique de Saint-Boniface and the ''Les Cloches de Saint-Boniface''. He died at Montreal on June 16, 1915"LouisPhilippe Adélard Langevin", ''L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec''
/ref> and was buried in the St. Boniface Cathedral Cemetery.

Legacy

The Rue Langevin in the Saint-Boniface area of Winnipeg is named for him.

References

Sources

* * Stephen T. Rusak. "ADÉLARD LANGEVIN AND THE RESTORATION OF MINORITY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS IN CANADA," ''Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education,'' (1984) 25:1, 197-224, DOI:10.1080/0030923850250109
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langevin, Adelard 1855 births 1915 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Canada Roman Catholic archbishops of Saint Boniface Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate