Albert Lacombe

Albert Lacombe ( born February 28, 1827 in Saint- Sulpice, Quebec, † December 12, 1916 in Midnapore, Alberta ), also known simply as Father Lacombe, was a French- Canadian Catholic missionary, of a role in the colonization of the West Canada played by European settlers. He belonged to the Order of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Life

Already as a student of theology awoke in Albert Lacombe, the desire to be a missionary in Western Canada. After he had been ordained priest in Saint- Hyacinthe on 13 June 1849 he was first sent to North Dakota. 1852 allowed him to accompany her to the Red River of the Bishop of Montreal Ignace Bourget, the Missionary Bishop Alexandre- Antonin Taché OMI, where he. Lac Ste Anne was stationed.

In 1855 he began his novitiate at the Oblates and he laid on September 28, 1856 his vows in the community. In 1860, Bishop Taché and P. Lacombe decided to choose a new base for their missionary work. They established a mission station north of Fort Edmonton and Bishop Taché named it after the patron saint of P. Lacombe St. Albert. Here they found better living conditions, but also in a better position for the mission among the Cree and Blackfoot Indians, who came to Fort Edmonton to operate there trade.

Due to disagreements within the Community, P. Lacombe soon begged to be allowed to leave St. Albert and live as a missionary among the Cree and Blackfoot Indians, and so he founded the mission of Saint -Paul -des- Cris on the northern Saskatchewan River. P. Lacombe appeared as peacemaker in the war between the two tribes.

In 1872 he was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of St. Albert, but in 1874 transferred to the Archdiocese of Saint- Boniface, so that he could assist Bishop Taché, who pushed the French-Canadian colonization. Later, he was appointed Vicar General of the diocese of Saint -Boniface. In 1882 he returned to the Diocese of St. Albert. With the Blackfoot Indians, he acted in the following years from the construction of the railway line of the Canadian Pacific Railway through its territory, and reached that they did not participate in 1885 at the Northwest Rebellion. In 1890 he retired from public life in order to live henceforth as a hermit, but in 1894 he returned to the Diocese of Saint- Boniface, where he continued working with Bishop Taché and later with his successor Archbishop Adélard Langevin.

Death

One of his last works was the establishment of an orphanage in Midnapore. On December 12, 1916, he died in this same orphanage. He was buried in St. Albert Bishop Vital Grandin next.

Commemoration

Today a number of monuments, buildings, places and historical sites are named after Lacombe, including the location of Lacombe, Alberta.