Plunging into the Lord's Prairie Vineyard
Tinchebray Missionaries Evangelized and Established R.C. Institutions Throughout Central Alberta (1904-1924)
by Henry L. Wostenberg

---

Follow the Tinchebray Congregation of intrepid priest-professors initiating with their formation in nineteenth century France to their arrival to Central Alberta in 1904 where they evangelized, organized parishes, constructed churches, founded Roman Catholic convents and schools over a period of twenty years. Witness the challenges they faced adjusting their ministry from one primarily serving a French-speaking laity to one serving a growing multilingual church using English as the language of communication. Feel their disappointment when they were squeezed out of their Central Alberta missions in 1924 only four years after the appointment of Henry J. O’Leary as Archbishop of Edmonton, their new diocesan superior. Could there have been a different ending to their saga?

---

The author holds a BA in secondary history from the University of Northern Colorado augmented by numerous Canadian university courses, notably, in history and a Certificate in Religious Education from Newman Theological College in Edmonton. His teaching experiences in Department of Indians Affairs schools on the Blood, Peigan and Hobbema Reserves, instructing medics in the U.S. Army for two years as well as teaching in the Red Deer Roman Catholic Separate and Red Deer Public Schools expanded his strong interest in cultural and social history. Teaching social studies and religion for nearly two decades at Red Deer’s Camille J. Lerouge Collegiate and École Secondaire Notre Dame High School as well as his membership in Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Parish of Red Deer heightened his interest in the history of the founding of Roman Catholic parishes in the area by the Oblates and the Tinchebray Fathers. The fact that his maternal grandfather, Victor Morin, was swept up in the 20th Century French-Canadian Diaspora to the United States was also an additional factor motivating the author to research the francophone connection to the Catholic Church to his adopted Alberta home.

---

Contributors

Author

Henry L. Wostenberg