Born: Saint-Pierre-la-Cour (Mayenne), February 8, 1829.
Took the habit: N.-D. de l’Osier, December 28, 1851.
Vows: N.-D. de l’Osier, January 1, 1853 (No. 338).
Priestly ordination: Marseille, April 23, 1854.
Episcopal ordination: Marseille, November 30, 1859.
Died: Saint-Albert, Canada, June 3, 1902.
Vital Justin Grandin was born on February 8, 1829 at Saint-Pierre-la-Cour, now called Saint-Pierre-sur-Orthe, in the diocese of Le Mans, France. His parents were Jean Grandin and Marie Veillard. His father was a farmer but later became a hotelier and a butcher. While Vital was still an infant the family went to live in Aron. He studied at the minor seminary in Précigné from 1846 to 1850 and did his philosophy and some theology in the major seminary of Le Mans in 1850-1851. In September 1851, hoping to be a missionary in the Orient, he asked to be admitted to the Foreign Missions seminary in Paris but he was refused because of a speech defect. It was then that he was admitted to Notre-Dame de l’Osier and he began his novitiate on December 28, 1852. His novice master, Father Gustave Richard, wrote about him as follows: “His defect in pronunciation does not seem all that serious to me. When he reads it is hardly noticeable. … Good health, height and bearing quite distinguished, much virtue, he will have little difficulty preparing for religious life, character quite good although somewhat serious, … very good judgement, little or no imagination, ordinary intelligence, likes work … I believe he is called to be a good religious.” The monthly reports of Father Richard are always praising his subject. In July 1852 he writes once again: “Grandin, a holy young man … the men coming from the seminary in Le Mans are unique in the world.”
The novice pronounced his vows at Notre-Dame de l’Osier on January 1, 1853, studied theology in Marseilles in 1853-1854, was ordained priest by Bishop de Mazenod on April 23, 1854 and received his obedience for Red River. On May 26, 1854 the Founder wrote to Father François Bermond in Saint-Boniface: “I am sending you the excellent priest, Father Grandin. He has all the virtues and qualities to make a good missionary and he leaves with so much goodwill and dedication that it is impossible that God will not make use of him to do good in the mission to which his goodness has called him. For missions that are so difficult and so painful I would not send a missionary who was not caring… This time, Father Grandin was the only one to volunteer with no concern for the rigours of the cold.” In a letter to Bishop Taché on May 28 he added: “I am sending you an angel in the person of Father Grandin … He is joyful in presenting himself to your difficult mission, he is a generous soul, the sort you need…”
Missionary and coadjutor bishop in Saint-Boniface
Father Grandin was, first of all, sent to Île-à-la-Crosse, then to Fort Chipewyan where he ministered from 1855 to 1857 and to Fond-du-Lac, Athabaska in 1857. In 1855, Bishop Taché asked Propaganda for a coadjutor who would be responsible for the Missions of the Far North. He asked Bishop de Mazenod for his advice and then he consulted Bishop Guigues of Ottawa. Both agreed to present Father Grandin in spite of the fact that he was only 28 years of age. On December 11, 1857 he was appointed by Pope Pius IX as titular bishop of Satala and coadjutor of Saint-Boniface with residence at Île-à-la-Crosse. In a letter of January 8, 1858, Bishop de Mazenod announced his appointment to Father Grandin and, among other things, he added: “Just a little letter to our dear Father Grandin who, by God’s will and that of his representative here on earth, has become titular Bishop of Satala … From where I am I can see you prostrating yourself on the ground, shedding tears, in your humility turning down the pontifical crown which is being placed upon your head. Rest assured that it is being imposed by obedience and besides, for you in the midst of your painful labours, it will seem more like the crown of thorns of the Saviour than the diadem of an emperor of this world. You are a bishop by the will of the head of the Church and by mine; you are assured of the grace and the help of God. The episcopacy has become for you the path of salvation …” The news was received in Le Mans with astonishment. Bishop de Mazenod received some letters on the subject. He wrote to one of the confreres of the bishop-elect on January 9, 1858: “Although he is still young, Father Grandin deserved to be chosen. In order to bear the heavy burden that has been placed upon him he needs great virtue and undaunted courage, and these are precisely the gifts bestowed by God in this dear prelate. Although still so young, he has always been a model in all the positions in which he has been placed. It is with complete confidence that the Bishop of Saint-Boniface and I have presented him to the Holy See in order to have placed upon his head that crown of thorns which he will have the strength to carry.”
Bishop Grandin learned of his appointment in June 1858. On November 30, 1859 he was ordained bishop by Bishop de Mazenod in the church of the Holy Trinity in Marseille. As his Episcopal motto he chose: Infirma mundi elegit Deus. On his return to Île-à-la-Crosse he was visited by Bishop Taché. Together, they studied the possibility of establishing a Vicariate apostolic in the Mackenzie basin. It was with this in mind that Bishop Grandin, in the course of 1861-1864, visited Fort Providence, Fort Liard, Fort Good Hope, Fort Rae and Fort Simpson. On his return to Île-à-la-Crosse in 1864 he learned that, on May13, 1862, Father Henri Faraud had been appointed Vicar apostolic of Athabaska-Mackenzie.
From 1864 to 1867, Bishop Grandin visited the missions in the region of Churchill. In 1867 he was present at the Oblate general chapter in Autun and in 1868 at the provincial council in Quebec. In 1869 he took up residence in Saint-Albert and not far from Fort Edmonton in the north of the prairies and there he worked among the Cree and Blackfoot Amerindians.
Vicar of missions and Bishop of Saint-Albert
In 1868 Bishop Grandin was appointed by Father Fabre as religious superior of the Oblates in the mission vicariate of Saskatchewan. He continued in that role until 1897. On September 22, 1871, he was appointed bishop of Saint-Albert. He often visited his vast diocese and encountered many problems, especially the poverty in a diocese where everything had to be created and which was rapidly developing with the arrival of many white immigrants. He also had to deal with the future and the problems of educating the half-breeds and Indians in the presence of this immigration. He approached the different governments to defend the rights of the half-breeds, but did not encourage their rebellion in 1885. To plead for the rights of the half-breeds and Indians, he travelled to Ottawa in 1882, 1883, 1886 and 1887. In a search for help in personnel and money, he travelled to France in 1867, 1873, 1976 and 1893 and in Eastern Canada and the United States in 1877, 1888 and 1901.
Bishop Grandin wanted to establish a native church. He sent some young people to study at the college in Saint-Boniface and in the seminaries of Quebec province. On January 21, 1900, he established the Holy Family minor seminary in Saint-Albert. He only had the consolation of ordaining one half-breed in 1890: Edward Cunningham.
As he aged Bishop Grand suffered from ear infections and abscesses. In 1897 Rome appointed Bishop Emil Legal as coadjutor of Saint-Albert . Nevertheless Bishop Grandin continued to exercise his functions until his death on June 3, 1902. His body lies in Edmonton cathedral. His Cause for beatification was introduced in Rome on February 27, 1937 and Pope Paul VI declared him Venerable on December 15, 1966.
Yvon Beaudoin
and Gaston Carrière, o.m.i.
