Ovide Charlebois

Immediately after his ordination, Father Charlebois was sent to the missions of Western Canada. In September 1887, he joined Cumberland House, in Saskatchewan, where he would work for sixteen years among the Indigenous populations (Cree and Chipewyan) and the Métis. Despite his initial fear of solitude, he adapted courageously to this difficult environment, learned the local languages, and founded a school in 1890, where he taught daily while carrying out his pastoral visits. To reach the nomadic and scattered communities, he traveled thousands of kilometers by snowshoe, canoe, and dog sled, frequently camping in the snow in extreme cold.

In 1900, he was appointed superior of the Saskatchewan district. In 1903, he took over the direction of the Duck Lake residential school (St. Michael's Indian Residential School), which was then in great financial difficulty. He managed to turn around the institution's economic situation while continuing to teach the catechism in the Cree language.

On August 8, 1910, Pope Pius X established the Apostolic Vicariate of Keewatin and appointed Ovide Charlebois as its first Vicar Apostolic, with the title of titular bishop of Berenice. He received episcopal consecration on November 30, 1910, at the hands of Archbishop Louis Langevin. Installed on March 7, 1911, in The Pas, Manitoba, he established his episcopal residence there—a modest wooden cabin—and undertook the organization of this vast territory of more than 200,000 square kilometers. A skilled carpenter, he built the cathedral of The Pas himself, as well as numerous chapels, schools, and missionary residences. He also founded a French-language Catholic newspaper to connect the isolated communities and vigorously defended the rights of Francophone and Indigenous minorities.

The life of Ovide Charlebois is marked by heroic devotion and a spirit of absolute poverty. Despite the rigors of the climate and constant deprivations, he refused all material comfort. In 1933, feeling his strength declining, he ordained his nephew, Msgr. Martin Lajeunesse, O.M.I., as coadjutor bishop to succeed him.

On November 20, 1933, at the age of 71, Msgr. Charlebois passed away in The Pas following a brief illness contracted during a pastoral trip by dog sled. Faithful to his vow of poverty, he died in complete destitution, leaving a will in which he declared that he possessed nothing of his own. He was buried in a pauper's coffin in the cemetery of The Pas. In 1955, his remains were transferred to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in The Pas.

The reputation for holiness of Bishop Charlebois spread rapidly after his death. His cause for beatification was officially introduced on August 15, 1951, with the opening of the diocesan informative process in the Diocese of Keewatin-Le Pas, which concluded on August 25, 1952. After obtaining the nihil obstat decree on April 13, 1978, the cognitive process was opened on September 16, 1980. On November 28, 2019, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, a miracle attributed to his intercession must be formally recognized by the Holy See.

The spirituality of Ovide Charlebois rests on an unwavering trust in Providence, a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Virgin Mary (his episcopal motto being Ad Jesum per Mariam), as well as a passionate love for the missions.

A striking aspect of his legacy is his decisive role in the proclamation of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux as patroness of the missions. Marveling at the graces and conversions attributed to the intercession of the saint in the missions of the Canadian Far North, Bishop Charlebois took the initiative to launch a global petition. He succeeded in gathering the signatures of 232 bishops from around the world, transmitting this request to Pope Pius XI, who proclaimed Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus universal patroness of the missions and missionaries on December 14, 1927, on an equal footing with Saint Francis Xavier.

Today, his memory remains alive in Canada, particularly in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Several institutions bear his name, notably the Monseigneur-Ovide-Charlebois elementary school in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson.