Legal, Most Rev. Emile Joseph, OMI

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.”