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Bishop Vital Grandin, O.M.I., and "The Sherpherd Boy"

Candidates for Sainthood

"Grace is indeed required to turn a man into a Saint; and he who doubts this does not know what either a man or a Saint is." – Pascal Pensées

"The only favor I ask of God is that I die in His love and that He judges me with great mercy." – from Indian Bishop of the West, Vital Justin Grandin 1829-1902, by Frank J. Dolphin

"February 16, 1891: Bishop Grandin, as tired as he is, agrees to preach the annual retreat…" – Journal de Notre Dame des Victoires

"Vous avez un ami fidèle, un confrere prudent, un apôtre modèle dans Monseigneur Vital Grandin." – Louis Riel

The Shepherd Boy

First Bishop of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Declared Venerable In 1966

Vital Grandin was born on February 8, 1829, in Sainte-Pierre-sur-Orthe, in a beautiful stone house called the "Pelican". It was a wayside inn built by his father on the edge of the Sillé Forest in France. Misfortune struck again (their farm buildings had been destroyed by a violent hurricane) when business declined to such an extent that the family had to leave.

Vital had a secret desire to become a priest, but his parents being so poor, he could see no way of becoming one. After meeting the Brothers of the Holy Cross, he thought of joining them but his attempt was unsuccessful due to his weak physical constitution.

Thoughts of becoming a missionary changed his original plans of being a parish priest. He fought back these thoughts but, after three years of this inner conflict, missionary work won over and he was admitted to the Foreign Missions in Paris in September 1851. The China Missions attracted him and he had the great desire to be a martyr. After months of studies, his Superiors informed him that on account of a minor speech defect, he was unfit for missionary work and would not be accepted. He was stunned. Formerly, he had dreaded the very thought of being a missionary but now he desperately wanted to become one.

It so happened that a former classmate was being admitted to the novitiate of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and he thought he too could enter. After a visit to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Victory in Paris, he headed toward the Oblate Novitiate at Notre Dame de l'Osier and on December 28, he took the religious habit. A year later on January 1, 1853, he made his religious vows, as an Oblate. On April 23, 1854, Vital Grandin was ordained a priest.

After ordination, he set out for the distant missions in the Red River district of Western Canada. His heart was breaking when he said good-bye to his relatives at Le Havre.

His first year was at the St. Boniface Mission with Bishop Taché. The following year, 1855, his superiors sent him to the most distant mission in the Vicariate, the Nativity Mission on the shores of Lake Athabasca. There, he experienced physical and mental hardships: exhausting journeys, nights spent in the open air in extremely cold weather, hunger, thirst, and loneliness.

It was in the summer of 1858 that he learned that he was being appointed Bishop of Satala and Coadjutor to the St. Boniface Diocese. He found it unbelievable as, only six years before, the Foreign Missions Congregation of Paris had declared him unfit for the China Missions and refused to accept him. He declined the honor but Bishop de Mazenod, who had personally presented this candidate, refused to listen to his plea.

Vital Grandin was consecrated in Marseilles on November 30, 1859 by Bishop Eugene de Mazenod in the presence of a few relatives and friends, his brother Fr. Jean, Melanie and his protector and spiritual Father - "My good Father Sebaux".

For his motto he chose the text: "Infirma mundi elegit Deus" (God chooses the weak of this world for his work), and for his coat of arms: a bent reed, a symbol of weakness, bent on the cross, his only strength being the emblem of his congregation. In this symbol is the story of his life.

Vital Grandin returned to lay foundation of the New Vicariate of Athabasca-Mackenzie and from 1861 to 1864, he led a life of extreme hardship.

Bishop Grandin had only five missionaries and practically no income except some contributions from the Society of the Propagation of Faith of Lyons and Paris, alms from France and Quebec, and mass stipends. These were not enough to maintain and expand the Indian Missions, supply the needs of new settlements, or establishing new schools, parishes and hospitals. Bishop Grandin had to face Government officials who opposed him openly and those who gave him empty promises of help.

He was the spiritual father and constant protector of his dear Indians who needed protection against invaders, troublemakers and those who convinced them to join an uprising against the government in 1885.

Worn out prematurely due to a life of hardships and trials, he felt he was doing justice to his work. He requested for and was given a Coadjutor. On July 17, 1897, he consecrated Bishop Legal the Cathedral of St. Albert. Early in his life, he became violently ill. He had instructions that, if he should die on the reserves, he be buried at the camp where he died, a large wooden cross to be erected there. No expense was to be incurred transferring his remains but that his body be buried at the foot of the cross. He died at his own modest Bishop's House in St. Albert, after a short agony in June, 1902.

The preliminary proceeding for beatification were begun in 1930; diocesan and apostolic proceedings had already taken place. Later on, another important step was taken: "Antepraeparatori". A meeting was called to order in Rome. He was declared ‘Venerable’ in 1966.

Acknowledgement: From a booklet ‘Vital Grandin, Servant of God’, Édition de L'Ermitejo, 9916-110th Street, Edmonton.

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