La Salette in Northwest Canada

Archb. Louis Philippe Adélard Langevin (1855-1915), a Canadian Oblate priest and Archbishop of Saint-Boniface.

Editor: We hereby republish sections of the Centennial Booklet, “La Salette—1846-1946: Ten Decades with Our Lady,” edited by Fr. Emile Ladouceur, M.S., describing the first hundred years of making Mary’s message known. This is the fifth of twelve articles.

In the waning months of the 19th century, the first Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette arrived in Northwest Canada to begin their long years of mission work among a people all but forgotten in that vast and lonely prairie land. Fiction writers have made the great Northwest familiar to us as a trackless country where the famous Canadian Mounted Police ranged about in grim pursuit of the man they never fail to get.

But what of Christ's faithful Mounties searching for lost souls, leading lonely lives, unknown and unsung? What of the joys and sorrows of these silent Men of Faith, living on the fringe of civilization, fighting against overwhelming odds to implant the faith securely in the hearts of a widely scattered flock?

What a saga might be written on the heroic lives of these priests of the Northwest riding the ranges through heat and cold to bring the consolations of religion to a neglected people; braving the sandstorms and riding out blizzards that God may be made known and loved.

Bishop Adelard Langevin welcomes the La Salettes to Central Canada

1905 Gathering in Forget, West-Central Canada; (from bottom left) Jules Morard, M.S . (1867-1954); Rev. Fr. Joseph Perrin (1836-1913), Superior General; Frs. François Gerboud, M.S. (1871-1959); (from top left): Hippolyte Girard, M.S. (1853-1943); ?? Trapeau; Marius Michel, M.S. (1874-1960) and ?? Rivoire

It was in 1899 that the Most Rev. Adelard Langevin (1855-1915), Archbishop of St. Boniface in Manitoba, Canada, asked our young community to send him missionaries to help him look after the motley population of his large Archdiocese. It then comprised the two provinces of Manitoba and Assiniboia. A large territory was assigned to the Fathers. It extended over the virgin prairie well-known for its famous herds of buffalo, fierce fires and raging blizzards, but also for the fertility of its soil.

The influx of immigration was then bringing into the new promised land people of all conditions, tongues and creeds. The great majority, however, came from central Europe, France and Belgium. Then and there arose for religious authorities the complex problem of attending to their varied needs. The faithful were scattered far and wide. They wanted something more than land, home and school. They wanted a priest among them.

We can never forget the town of Forget, Saskatchewan

The first La Salette Missionaries established themselves in the town of Forget (pronounced ‘For-jay’), in the Province of Saskatchewan, and soon their field of ministry was extended to include Estevan, Wayburn, Pangman, and all the surrounding districts.In 1924 they also took over missions in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, where they were given charge of the parishes at Beausejour, Elma and Ladywood, in Manitoba. When the first districts they had so successfully pioneered into prosperous centers were eventually transferred to the secular clergy, they still remained to achieve other conquests in Manitoba.

“Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23a)

(from left) Frs. Pieta, Schech, Richards, Władysław Sajek (1889-1976), (visiting priest), John Zimmermann (1890-1978), Valentine Kustocz (19090-1981), (and two visiting priests)Times and conditions have seen great changes in the mission field originally opened by the La Salette Fathers in Northwest Canada. Within forty years, six splendid parishes with well-organized societies and over twenty-five missions with chapels rose from what was once the bare prairie.

Over thirty Fathers have labored in this part of the Lord's Vineyard. A great field was opened by noble and generous missionaries and rich harvests of souls from this wide prairie have been brought into the granaries of Heaven.
La Salette in Northwestern Canada: left upper: Fr. Clément Michel, M.S. (1883-1957) in front of his Church in Lampman, Saskatchewan; left lower: Fr. Paul Beaulieu, M.S. (1903-1951) stands in front of his church in Tribune, Saskatchewan; right upper, from right: Frs. François-Xavier Richard, M.S. (1893-1969) and Thomas Links, M.S. (1892-1939) stand with their Boys’ Choir in Estevan, Saskatchewan; right middle: Fr. Karol Litowski, M.S. (1891-1978), celebrates his 25th Priestly Anniversary at Sts. Peter and Paul in Ladywood, Manitoba; right lower: Fr. Louis Sorrell, M.S. (1872-1949) serves Native Americans on their reservation