SAN BONIFACIO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - City and archdiocese in the province of Manitoba (Canada). The archdiocese of St. B. covers an area of 100,000 sq km. The Catholic population numbers 65,085; 84 diocesan priests and 128 religious exercise the sacred ministry in 61 parishes, 80 churches, 58 chapels and 122 other stations. There are 1 major seminary, 2 colleges, 1 apostolic school, 8 novitiates, 1 retreat house, 6 hospitals. There are furthermore 760 sisters of 15 different congregations.
The diocese of St. B. was erected by Pius IX on 4 June 1847, when the apostolic vicariate of the northwest (Hudson Bay and James Bay) was elevated to a diocese. The same Pius IX on 22 Sept. 1871 elevated the diocese to an archdiocese.
St. B. had an important history in the development of the Catholic church in the west. In 1818, the priest Joseph Norbert Provencher left the eastern part of the country for the missions of the Red River as vicar general of the diocese of Québec. On 1 Feb. he was appointed bishop of Juliopolis and coadjutor of Québec for the territories of the Canadian west. On 6 Apr. 1844 Gregory XVI created the apostolic vicariate of the northwest for the territory comprised between the Great Lakes and the North Pole. From this original vicariate all the dioceses and vicariates of the Canadian west and far north have sprung.
When he came to the west, Msgr. Provencher had with him only a few secular priests, but he succeeded, a short time after the erection of the vicariate, in obtaining the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The latter, having arrived at Montréal in 1841, landed at the Rivière Rouge on 25 Apr. 1845. One of them, Alexandre Taché, became coadjutor of Msgr. Provencher on 24 June 1850, and is today considered one of the greatest figures in the history of the Canadian west. In 1862 the entire territory tributary to the Arctic Sea was detached from St. B. to form the apostolic vicariate of Athabaska-Mackenzie, with Msgr. Henri Faraud as its first bishop; in 1871 the northwestern part was detached for the new diocese of St. Albert; while in 1890 the northeastern part became the apostolic vicariate of Saskatchewan, with Msgr. Albert Pascal as its first pastor. From that time the territories were several times divided up to form archdioceses, dioceses and apostolic vicariates. On 3 Dec. 1907 the diocese of Prince Albert was detached; on 4 Dec. 1910 Regina was elevated to a diocese. In 1910 the Holy See erected the apostolic vicariate of Keewatin and Msgr. O. Charlebois, whose cause for beatification is in progress, was appointed bishop. On 30 Nov. 1912 the see of Calgary was erected; on 4 Dec. 1915 Winnipeg was formed and in 1921 the abbey "nullius" of St. Peter of Münster was created. In 1930 Pius XI erected Gravelbourg;
Saskatoon in 1933 and the apostolic vicariate of Hudson Bay in 1931. Pius XII created the new see of St. Paul in 1948. Meanwhile the diocese of St. Albert was transformed into that of Edmonton (1931) and the apostolic vicariate of Athabaska became the apostolic vicariate of Grouard, in honor of Msgr. Émile Grouard. - See pl. CX.
