Belgian brothers Sacrificed to bring faith to S. Alberta

Van Tighem brothers tell of their lives during provinces 'savage times'

- Sir Alexander Galt Museum and Archives Fr. Leonard Van Tighem

By BILL GLEN
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

It would have been quite a feat for Catholic missionary Victor Van Tighem to follow directly in his younger brother's footsteps.

In 1875, Belgian native Leonard Van Tighem took three months to walk from Fort Garry (Winnipeg) to Fort Augustus (Edmonton) in a quest to bring Christianity to southern Alberta.

When Victor came to Calgary 11 years later, he took the train.

Once Leonard, a lay Oblate brother, reached the Diocese of St. Albert under the direction of Bishop Vital Grandin, he began a ministry that lasted more than 40 years during some of the formative moments of the Catholic Church in Alberta.

At the time, the diocese stretched south to the Canada-United States border.

Agrarian skills

Victor, a member of the Belgian Van Dale congregation, worked on the Blackfoot/Peigan reserve for 43 years. He served as a teacher and gardener, helping teach First Nations people how to harvest crops and grow their own fruit and vegetables. It was an attempt to introduce them to a more settled, self-sufficient and agricultural way of life.

The men were determined to bring the Catholic faith, along with schools and hospitals (with the Grey Nuns), to native people and immigrant Albertans.

Between 1874 and 1917, the Van Tighems also kept meticulous diaries that have been transcribed and recently published by University of Calgary Press, in a book titled Missionaries among Miners, Migrants and Blackfoot.

The 426-page book contains the men's first-hand account of a "savage" time in the southern part of the province. It chronicles early settlement, the immigration boom of Europeans and the mining industry.

There are copies of dozens of letters from family and friends as the men continued to correspond back home, and to each other. The book includes letters and articles by contemporary bishops, fellow priests and lay people.

The Van Tighem family also provided a wealth of photographs.

Calgary writer Mary Eggermont-Molenaar helped translate the diaries into English. With co-editor and Belgian resident Paul Callens, the two sent countless emails back and forth to amass a work that could serve as a valuable resource tool.

Combined histories

"Not only are the diaries an account of the Church, but also the development of the province," Eggermont-Molenaar said. "You can compare the different ways the men arrived in the province and look at the development of the small communities."

The railway was about to arrive (c. 1883), bringing with it "firewater" from the United States and all manner of indignation - something that was of dire concern to Grandin. He was certain the indigenous were "doomed to disappear."

Two of the book's more interesting entries are comments attributed to Grandin regarding the railway.

"It would bring bad doctrines, perfidious journals, firewater and what else?"

Then: "Most of the newcomers are Protestants or very lax Catholics and, as many of them surpass even pagans in immorality, I fear for the poor Indians. I have not sufficient priests to cope with the situation, particularly as the Protestant ministers are now coming in great numbers."

Culture clashes were developing between the European immigrants and the indigenous people who practised polygamy.

Leonard began studying for the priesthood in St. Albert and on March 19, 1883, he was ordained by Bishop Grandin. He was dispatched to Macleod in 1884 where he and fellow Oblates - Fathers Albert Lacombe and Emile Legal - became the first Roman Catholic pioneers of southern Alberta, establishing a number of parishes and schools.

Legal would go on to become the second bishop of St. Albert and first archbishop of Edmonton.

Father Leonard witnessed the births of Lethbridge and Pincher Creek. He travelled to a number of parishes, including St. Patrick's in Lethbridge, which he helped establish.

On May 1, 1895, he wrote: "The Reverend Father Lacombe, after an absence of about three years, paid a flying visit to Lethbridge, arriving yesterday with a four-horse team. He departed this morning. This visit, short as it was, pleased the Father and Sisters of Lethbridge.

Where would Father Lacombe not be welcomed?"

Victor's arrival in the Macleod area in 1886 saw that the "Indian population" had been "fenced" in reserves since 1877 (Treaty 7) and the rights of Catholics to separate schools were recognized. The book states, however, "schooling was in the first place a strategy to convert, not to teach children."

"Victor was a very humble man who wasn't well educated," Eggermont-Molenaar said.

Victor noted on March 22, 1890, the deaths of the Peigan and Blackfoot chiefs who died within weeks of each other.

"Father Doucet is so fortunate to have baptized (Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot) before his death. Crowfoot was a brave man and venerated among the whites as well as the savages."

Mutal respect

Eggermont-Molenaar says that what she has garnered from her extensive research is that the Van Tighems learned as much as they taught. Victor, particularly, came to appreciate the spirituality of the First Nations people.

"Victor cursed them as savages, but he would later sit with them, having become best friends," she said. "That's what struck me the most about them."

Copies of Missionaries among Miners, Migrants and Blackfoot are available by calling the University of Calgary bookstore at 1-877-220-5937.

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