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1849-1920 (Creation)
- Creator
- Legal, Most Rev. Emile Joseph, OMI
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Physical description
1.15 meters of textual records.
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Name of creator
Biographical history
Emile Joseph Legal, OMI, was born in Saint-Jean de Boiseau, France in 1849. A man of remarkable creative talent and missionary zeal, five years after his ordination he joined the Oblates and arrived in the St. Albert Diocese in 1881. Just six years after his arrival he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Saint Albert and in 1902 he succeeded Bishop Vital Justin Grandin as the second bishop of Saint Albert. On 30 November, 1912 he was appointed the first Archbishop of the newly erected Archdiocese of Edmonton. He wrote The History of the Catholic Church in Central Alberta and authored several important manuscripts relating to the Blackfoot people and their language. He designed and constructed numerous church and school buildings; he was an avid amateur photographer; he was known as a forthright communicator; to develop more lay leaders he encouraged the establishment of the Knights of Columbus in 1907, and the Catholic Women’s League in 1912. As Bishop of St. Albert and later Archbishop of Edmonton, he travelled extensively to remote missions across the region and opened new parishes in nearly every year of his episcopate. In putting his stamp on the Diocese, he gained a reputation as “The Organizer.”
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of records which document the life of Rt. Rev. Emile Joseph Legal and his actions and activities as the second Bishop of St. Albert and first Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Edmonton and includes written and typed copies of his pastoral and circular letters, his personal journals and diaries, the diaries he kept while pastor at the St. Albert Parish in St. Albert, as well as large amount of correspondence between Legal and his family, friends, fellow clergymen, members of the laity, organizations and business that he interacted with in the course of his daily activities as a priest, bishop, and administrator of the Diocese of St. Albert and Archdiocese of Edmonton.
The fonds is arranged into five series:
- Pastoral Letters (1898-1919)
- Journals (1880-1918)
- Miscellaneous Writings (1894-1919)
- Personal Papers (1894-1920)
- Correspondence (ca. 1860-ca.1920)
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Open
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Accompanying material
Several photographs of Archbishop Legal can be found in the Archdiocese Archives Photograph Collection, along with three photograph albums compiled by Legal during his epsicopate. See ARCAE-PA-1, ARCAE-PA-2 and ARCAE-PA-3.
Accompanying material
Copies of outgoing correspondence written by Archbishop Legal during his time as Bishop of St. Albert and as Archbishop of Edmonton can be found in the Bound Letter Books in The Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton Fonds ARCAE-1-5-1.