Snapshots of our early beginnings

Bishop Grandin was only 42 years old when he was appointed Bishop of Alberta in Bishop Grandin devoted himself entirely to the conversion of the Indian peoples and to the aid of the prairie settlers. When he arrived in Alberta, there were only five Catholic missionaries serving the entire northwest. When he died in 1902, there were 65 missions, 50 schools, three hospitals and two seminaries.

Snapshots of our early beginnings Mother Mary Greene, principal of St. Mary’s School from 1885 to 1913, received the first teaching certificate issued by the Board of Education, N.W.T., Roman Catholic Section, on April 6, 1887.

Snapshots of our early beginnings Father Scollen. An appeal for English speaking missionaries brought him from Ireland to Canada. He reached St. Albert in 1862, as the first English speaking Catholic missionary in Alberta. In 1873, he founded a mission on the Elbow River, thereby becoming the first Catholic mission in what is now the Diocese of Calgary.

Snapshots of our early beginnings

Original four-room Sacred Heart School, Calgary, 1911.

Snapshots of our early beginnings Senior class, St. Mary’s School, Calgary, Courtesy Glenbow Archives

Snapshots of our early beginnings

St. Anne’s School, staff and students, 1918.

Snapshots of our early beginnings Father Albert Lacombe, commonly known in Alberta simply as Father Lacombe, was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic missionary who lived among and evangelized the Cree and Blackfoot First Nations of western Canada. Born in Saint-Sulpice, Lower Canada, he is now remembered for having brokered a peace between the Cree and Blackfoot, negotiating construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway through Blackfoot territory, and securing a promise from the Blackfoot leader Crowfoot to refrain from joining the North-West Rebellion of 1885.

Snapshots of our early beginnings St. Mary’s Junior Boy’s Rugby Team – City Champs, 1929

Snapshots of our early beginnings St. Anne’s School, Grade 1 class, 1931

Snapshots of our early beginnings

The first Basilian teachers in Calgary. The Basilians is an international order of Catholic priests and students studying for the priesthood who focus on education and ministering. BACK: Fr. Smith, Fr. A. Anderson, Fr. T. McGouey, C.S.B. FRONT: Fr. J. Whelihan, C.S.B., Fr. V. Thomson, C.S.B., Fr. P. Mallon, C.S.B., Fr. E. Hartman, C.S.B., 1933

Snapshots of our early beginnings Mrs. A.N. (Florence) MacDonald, a resident of the St. Joseph Parish was elected to the Board in She was the first lady Trustee in the history of the school district.

Snapshots of our early beginnings

Rt. Rev. Neville R. Anderson, P.D., Monsignor Anderson served 63 years as a priest. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Calgary on August 10, He started St. Angela’s parish now known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help, directed the St. Mary’s Boys’ Choir and taught music in the Catholic Schools of Calgary. He will always be remembered as a gentle and great man of the Church.