The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint-Boniface () is a Latin

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

in part of the civil Province of

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 ...

in Canada. Despite having no

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

dioceses, the archdiocese is nominally metropolitan and is an

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

by itself. It is currently led by Archbishop

Albert LeGatt Albert LeGatt is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Boniface in the Province of Manitoba, Canada. He was appointed Archbishop by Pope Benedict XVI on July 3, 2009, and received the Pallium on June 29, 2010. He was born on May 6, 1953, in Me ...

. The

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of the archdiocese is a

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

Saint Boniface Cathedral St. Boniface Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is an important building in Winnipeg, and is the principal church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, ...

, Winnipeg.

History

In 1817, settlers at the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

petitioned

Joseph-Octave Plessis Joseph-Octave Plessis (March 3, 1763 – December 4, 1825) was a Canadians, Canadian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic clergyman from Quebec. He was the first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec after the diocese was elevated to ...

, 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. Lemieux, Lucien. "Provencher, Joseph-Norbert", ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003
/ref> Provencher's assignment was to convert the Indian nations and to "morally improve" the delinquent Christians who had "adopted the ways of the Indians." Arriving at

Fort Douglas Fort Douglas (initially called Camp Douglas) was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah. Its purpose was to protect the overland mail route and te ...

in mid-July, they were given land on the east bank of the Red River by

Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk FRS FRSE (20 June 1771 – 8 April 1820) was a Scottish landowner and philanthropist. He was noteworthy as a Scottish philanthropist who sponsored immigrant settlements in Canada at the Red River Colony. E ...

, of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

. 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 Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

. 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 Cuthbert "James" Grant (1793 – July 15, 1854) was a Métis leader of the early 19th century who participated in the Pemmican War as an employee of the North West Company. Life Cuthbert Grant was born in about 1793 at Fort de la Rivière Tr ...

White Horse Plains White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

. 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 The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, found ...

to come to Saint-Boniface. In 1845, the Vicariate Apostolic of the North West was formed with Provencher as ordinary. The area separated from

Archdiocese of Québec The Archdiocese of Québec (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest episcopal see in the New World north of Mexico and the primatial see of Canada. The Archdioce ...

comprised the entire territory west of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

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 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 ...

missioner

Alexandre-Antonin Taché Alexandre-Antonin Taché (; 23 July 1823 – 22 June 1894) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, missionary of the Oblate order, author, and the first Archbishop of Saint Boniface in Manitoba, Canada. Early life 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. 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 The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (Soeurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie) is a teaching religious institute founded at Longueuil, Québec, Canada, in 1843 by Blessed Mother Marie Rose Durocher for the Christian education of ...

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 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 ...

. 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.

Cathédrale Saint-Boniface

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.Girard, David. "The Cathedrals of Saint-Boniface", ''Encyclopedia of French cultural Heritage in North America''
/ref>

Bishops

Diocesan Ordinaries

;''Apostolic Vicar of North-West'' *

Joseph-Norbert Provencher Joseph-Norbert Provencher (February 12, 1787 – June 7, 1853) was a Canadian clergyman and missionary and one of the founders of the modern province of Manitoba. He was the first Bishop of Saint Boniface and was an important figure in the histo ...

(1844.04.16 – 1847.06.04 ''see below''),

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Iuliopolis (1820.02.01 – 1847.06.04), earlier as

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

(Canada) (1820.02.01 – 1844.04.16) ;''Suffragan Bishops of Saint-Boniface'' *

(''see above'' 1847.06.04 – death 1853.06.07) *

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 ...

(O.M.I.) (1853.06.07 – 1871.09.22 ''see below''), succeeding as former

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Saint-Boniface (1850.06.12 – 1853.06.07) and Titular Bishop of

Arathia Arathia was a city and bishopric in the late Roman province of Cappadocia Prima, Asia Minor, whose ecclesiastical metropolis was at Caesarea (modern Kayseri, Turkey).John Mason Neale, ''A History of the Holy Eastern Church'', I:75 London, 185full ...

(1850.06.12 – 1853.06.07) ;''Archbishops of Saint-Boniface'' *

O.M.I. (''see above'' 1871.09.22 – death 1894.06.22) * Louis Philip Adélard Langevin (1895.01.08 – death 1915.06.15

* 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 Dometiopolis () was a city of Cilicia Trachea, and in the later Roman province of Isauria in Asia Minor. Its ruins are found in the village of Katranlı (formerly Dindebul), Ermenek, Karaman Province, Turkey. History The city, whose previous na ...

(1913.05.24 – 1915.11.09) *

Maurice Baudoux Maurice Baudoux (July 10, 1902 – July 1, 1988) was a Canadian priest and the Archbishop of Saint Boniface, Manitoba, Canada. Born in La Louvière, Belgium, he came to Canada when he was nine. He studied at Collège universitaire de Saint ...

(1955.09.14 – retired 1974.09.07), previously Bishop of Saint-Paul (Alberta, Canada) (1948.08.12 – 1952.03.04), then

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Preslavus (1952.03.04 – 1955.09.14) as

Coadjutor Archbishop The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

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 Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

(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 Emilius Goulet, PSS (May 15, 1933) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. Boniface in the Province of Manitoba, Canada. He was appointed Archbishop by Pope John Paul II on June 23, 2001 and was consecrated in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Bon ...

Sulpicians 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 ...

(P.S.S.) (2001.06.23 – retired 3 July 2009) *

(3 July 2009 – ...), previously Bishop of

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

(Canada) (2001.07.26 – 2009.07.03).

Coadjutor bishops

Vital-Justin Grandin Vital-Justin Grandin (8 February 1829 – 3 June 1902) was a Roman Catholic priest and bishop. He has been labelled as a key architect of the Canadian Indian residential school system by contemporary news sources, which has been considered an i ...

, O.M.I. (1857–1871), became bishop of the Diocese of St Albert * Georges Cabana (1941–1952), became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke

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 Remi Joseph De Roo (February 24, 1924 – February 1, 2022) was a Canadian Bishop in the Catholic Church, bishop of the Catholic Church. He was Roman Catholic Diocese of Victoria in Canada, Bishop of Victoria from 1962 to 1999 and the longest ...

, 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 Raymond O. Roussin was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver from 2004 to January 2009, when his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI. Curriculum vitae Roussin was born on June 17, 1939, in St. Boniface, Winnip ...

, Born In St Vital, Bishop of Gravelbourg 1995–1999, Bishop of Victoria 1999–2004, Archbishop of Vancouver 2004-2009 *

Marcel Damphousse Marcel Damphousse (born 19 March 1963) is a Canadian archbishop of the Catholic Church. Prior to becoming Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ottawa–Cornwall, Archdiocese of Ottawa–Cornwall, he was Bishop of the Roman Catholic Dioc ...

, appointed Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, Ontario in 2012

Statistics and extent

The archdiocese covers much of the province south of

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg () is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third- ...

and east of the Red River. It is a bilingual French and English archdiocese.

is a city ward of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

that sits on the east side of the Red River, and the area is a traditional home of

Franco-Manitobans Franco-Manitobans () are French Canadians or Canadian francophones living in the province of Manitoba. According to the 2016 Canadian Census, 40,975 residents of the province stated that French was their mother tongue. In the same census, 148,810 ...

. 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 The Archeparchy of Winnipeg is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or archeparchy of the Catholic Church in Manitoba, a province of Canada. Currently, its archeparch is Lawrence Huculak. Its cathedral is the Cathedral of S ...

jointly operate a number of parochial schools in Winnipeg.

References

Sources - Bibliography

Sources and external links

Archdiocese of St. Boniface site

retrieved July 14, 2006
"And the Desert Shall Bloom" -200th Anniversary of the Catholic Church in Western Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Boniface, Roman Catholic Archdiocese Catholic Church in Manitoba Winnipeg dioceses Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Saint Boniface