The Irish standard., 1888-06-23
MISSIONARIES OF MARY.
The Oblate Order and the Principal
Field OF Its Operation, the Can
adian Northwest.
EARLY 0BLATE PREACHERS.

Emil VDLHtL nLHVtlLnC
Establishment Of the Order in thi
Country Other Interesting
Information.
! lFrom the Boston Repoblicl.
! A missionary order which has accom-
plished vast amount of good Iii thi'
western continent is that Of the Oblates
of Mary Immaculate, as it's title runs
This order was founded at AK, il
Provence. France, in 1915, by Bishol
Mazenod, and it was formerly approved
by the Holy See eleven years later
The early forties saw it established ir
this country, it's first location being ir
Canada, where, in 1845, there were OBJ
late houses IN Montreal, Quebec anc
Kingston. The same year saw the In
dian apostolate of Canada confded tc
Bishop MaZenod's missionaries, and
the following year they were intrusted
with the evangelization of the Hudson
Bay territory, that immense district
which sweeps across ten degrees Of iati
tude and seventy-two OF longitude. and
which stretches from the shores Of the
northern Atlantic westward to beyond
the range of the Rocky mountains, and
from the great lakes northward to the
pole. Here the Oblates of Mary are yet
to be found pursuing their missionary
labors. The metropolitan see Of St.
Boniface, which comprises the province
of Manitoba, together with ether out
lying districts, is governed by mem
ber of their order, Most Rev. Alexan-
der Tache, and the majority of his
priests are Oblates. In the diocese Of
st. Albert, whose ordinary, Right Rev.
Vitalis Grandin, O. M. L., recently Wis
tied us in quest OF assistance for his
missions, the order counts no less than
thirty-three priests, all the diocesan
clergy with the exception of two. The
vicariate of Athabaska Mackenzie is
governed by another Oblate prelate,
Right Rev. Ell. j. Faraud, all of whose
priests belonging to the same order as
himself, while the vast vicariate of
British Columbia, which reaches from
the 49th to the 10th degree Of longi-
tade, and along that to the Goth paral.
lei of north latitude, is ruled by still
another Oblate, Right ReY. L. j.
D'Herbomez. who has twenty Oblate
missionaries as his co-laborers. Else
where, too, throughout Canada the Oh
lates are to be found, and they have a
we'll known noyitiate at Lachine, in the
diocese Of Montreal.
Some of the Oblate prelates now in
Canada had rude experiences IN thei-
missionary days. Thus the bishop OF
Athabaska-M Mackenzie, when he was
simply Father Faraud, was the one
who built the first church at Athabas-
ka, the British commandant at that
post giving HIM the site for the edifce.
Father Faraud went into the primeyal
forests and with his own hand cut
down the timber that he needed for his
church, while he fashioned with his
own fingers the furniture that was ne
cessary to equip the edifce after it had
been erected. For two years this de-
voted missionary labored at Athabaska,
seeing the face OF no other missionary
during that period, but working alone
for the spiritual welfare of his Indian
parishioners. Another Oblate prelate,
Bishop D'Herbomez, now OF the vicarl-
ate of British Columbia, was at one
time on the Oregon mission, where he
cbanced to lose his Way somewhere be-
tween that territory and northern Cali
fornia. Relating his experiences there,
the prelate afterwards said: 1T was a
case for trying the diyining rod. I had
been going at a slapping pace tor some
time, and yet saw nothing of my
friends; when suddenly I came upon
sort of a village, consisting Of some
twenty huts, out Of which streamed
men, women and children, carrying in
tbeir hands some sort Of instruments,
T knew not what, and coming toward
me. They were black; blacker than
any coal; the white of their eyes and of
their teeth seemed all the more strik-
ing, and gave them in truth. sinister
aspect After narratlng how he ex-
pected nothing better than to be killed
and, perhaps, eaten. Father D'Her-
bomez says that he was pleasantly as
tonlshed when he found that the reason
why these denizens of the forests turned
out to greet him was that they had seen
the missionary cross which he wore,
ana he was still farther delighted to
learn that the people from whom he
apprehendedl rude treatment. were,
two-thirds of them, good Christians
and Catholics. Bishop Grandin tells
how, when he carried the Viaticum to
the sick, he had often to crawl into the
cabin where the communicant awaited
rim IN his hands and knees, so small