Richard Baxter (28 March 1821 – 8 May 1904) was a Roman Catholic priest and a

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 ...

who was born in England and emigrated to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

with his family about 1830. Baxter entered the newly established Jesuit novitiate in Montreal in 1845 as the order's first English-speaking novice in Canada. (He was also fluent in French, having done classical studies at the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice in Montreal). As a pastor, he served predominantly in the Georgian Bay and Lake Superior areas. During the railway construction in the Lake Superior area, he became known as the Apostle of the Railway Builders, providing pastoral services to the camps. Father Baxter was important in the development of northwestern Ontario's Catholic institutions as well as being a man of the people. He was officially recognized in 1978 with a memorial plaque at St Andrew's Catholic Church,

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
English emigrants to Canada 19th-century Canadian Jesuits 1821 births 1904 deaths {{Canada-clergy-stub