LACOMBE, ALBERT. – Born on 18 February 1827 in St-Sulpice (Canada), ordained a priest in 1850, and became an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1855; he died on 12 December 1916 at Midnapore. His long life was devoted above all to the Indians and Métis of northwestern Canada, who called him “the man with the beautiful soul” or “the good heart.” The influence he exerted over the hearts of the Indians enabled him to prevent wars, raids of vengeance, and bloody feuds.
In 1861 he founded St-Albert, which subsequently became through his efforts an outpost of Christianity in the Northwest; in 1869 he liberated Edmonton; in 1885 he prevented the Blackfeet and other Indian tribes from joining the Métis uprising. In 1884 he opened the first school of handicrafts for Indians, and in 1894 he inaugurated the St-Paul colony for Métis threatened with extermination. He composed a whole series of linguistic works on the Indian languages of the Cree, Saulteaux, and Blackfeet. His most famous publication is the illustrated Catechism, which in one plate depicts the economy of salvation from the Creation to the Last Judgment. In 1900 and 1904 he went to the Archbishop of Lviv and to Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria to obtain Ruthenian priests. In the struggle over the Canadian schools, he negotiated with the government with great skill and considerable success in order to save the Catholic schools. He cleared the way through the Indian territories for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The town of L. was named in his honor. A monument to him was erected at St-Albert in 1929.