Venerable Bishop Vital Grandin, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Bishop of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, born in St. Pierre-la-Cour, France on February 8, 1829, died at St. Albert, Alberta, June 3, 1902.
As a pioneering Oblate missionary of the Canadian West, he became the first bishop of the then vast and newly created diocese of St. Albert in 1871. Wholly dedicated to bringing Roman Catholicism to the people of the plains, he worked despite great hardship to develop the missions. Through difficulties and dangers he travelled incessantly over the vast prairie regions in an endeavour to save souls. He endured his crosses with true courage and with a genuine love for his fellow man.
His cause for sainthood was introduced at Rome in 1937. His motto was "Infirma mundi elegit Deus" - God chooses the weak of this world - his coat of arms was a bent reed and a cross.
On December 15, 1966, Pope Paul VI promulgated the official decree of the heroic virtues of Bishop Grandin, OMI, and he was declared "Venerable."
"I owe my vocation to God and after Him, to my mother. I am convinced that a call to a religious or ecclesiastical vocation comes directly from God, who uses prudent Christian parents as instruments by which He makes His will known." Bishop Vital Grandin
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