LEGAL, EMILE-JOSEPH, — Born on 9 October 1849 at Jean-de Boiseau, diocese of Nantes; died on 10 March 1920 at Edmonton. Ordained a priest in 1876 and an Oblate of Mary Immaculate in 1879, he arrived in northwestern Canada in 1881. For 16 years, amid great difficulties, he evangelized the Indian tribes of the “Blackfeet.” In 1897 he was appointed coadjutor, and in 1902 bishop of St-Albert. In 1912 this diocese was elevated to an archdiocese with the title of Edmonton, of which Mons. L. was the first archbishop.
His principal pastoral concern was the organization of new parishes for the ever-growing number of immigrants; in fact, the number of Catholics rose from 16,000 in 1902 to 40,000, despite the loss of almost half the territory through the erection of the diocese of Calgary.