Communion

Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan

Non! C’est Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan!

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If your travel points are insufficient to transport you to Europe, try south-central Saskatchewan.  Experience a grand cathedral, quaint el fresco dining amidst the murmur of multiple languages, in a continental European atmosphere, at a fraction of the cost.

“Between 1906 and 1926 more than ten thousand Canadian citizens answered the call of Reverend Louis-Pierre Gravel to make their homes on the broad plains of Saskatchewan where they built towns and established French-speaking cultural institutions.” – Parks Canada

Gravelbourg is an island of Francophonie on the Canadian prairie. Early settlers from Europe and French-speaking parts of Canada and the USA, followed Father Louis-Pierre Gravel to Saskatchewan. They brought their language and Roman Catholic religion with them and built a town named in Gravel’s honour.

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I was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital/Foyer d’Youville in Gravelbourg; our family was among a Scots/English minority in the town.

Neither of my parents had French blood, but family members intermarried with les habitant. People with names like L’Heureux, Pouteaux, Samoisette, and DeMontigne populate our family. Those family connections draw my siblings and I back to Gravelbourg from time to time.

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Larry and Grace are the embodiment of Gravelbourg’s Anglo-French blending.

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Gravelbourg has always enjoyed a functioning mix of languages and culture. French-speaking merchants in Gravelbourg have long provided services to farmers in the surrounding English community.

Grandpa Billie Paton purchased hardware, machine parts, and groceries from shopkeepers named Legault, LaFlamme, Bazinet, and L’Heureux in the 1940s.

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While commerce and romantic relationships were able to bridge the culture gap, religious interaction remained segregated for much of Gravelbourg’s history. French-Catholics attended services at the Cathedral in Gravelbourg, German-Catholics had their own parish north of town, and English-Protestants attended small churches of various denominations dotted around the town and countryside.

On Sundays, everyone went their separate ways.

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The divide continued into Education, where schools followed religious categorizations.

My father attended an English-speaking rural one-room school until senior high. When he reached Grade Eleven, the only educational institution in the area was École Gravelbourg, located at the convent. My grandmother was having nothing to do with her son attending a papist school, much less cavorting with Catholic girls. Dad’s formal education ended at Grade Ten.

On my mom’s side, the Wells family was one of the few English-Protestant families living in Gravelbourg in the 1940s.

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Attending Catholic school as a Protestant had positive and negative effects. On the plus side, Mom was released from school ½ hour early every day while her Catholic counterparts were instructed in catechism. On the negative side, my mother was convinced that she was destined to burn in Hell, because her teachers told her so.

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Over the years, Gravelbourg’s diverse cultures integrated, including aspects of religious assimilation. English became the dominant language of the area, affected by the growth of the greater Anglo population of Saskatchewan. Inter-cultural marriages resulted in new generations of blended offspring. Most gravitated to English as a first language, influenced by broader western Canadian culture.

The church was slow to adapt but, little-by-little, sectarian practices softened.  As old churches closed and congregations of all denominations diminished, funeral and wedding celebrations were consolidated at the Cathedral.   

In 2020 I attended a celebration of life at Gravelbourg Cathedral. Addie, my father’s cousin was raised in a Protestant church but played organ at the Catholic cathedral for many years. Addie contributed to the bridging of Gravelbourg’s religious and cultural divide.

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No photographs exist of me giving a reading at Cathédrale de Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, but my sister Valerie suggested that this is an accurate depiction of my performance at the event.

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Meanwhile, back at the 90^th Birthday Party…….

We were offered drinks when we arrived, followed by supper at the Coderre Hotel (with drinks), followed by dessert at Larry and Grace’s and more drinks, then a nightcap.  And I don’t mean tea…..

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Before the Rum and Coke sessions began, Val, Glen, Brad, Bear, and I went for a tour of Paris of the Prairies.

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La légende de Calamity Jane, French language artists from Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan, featured regularly on CFRG-FM.

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French-speaking citizens of Gravelbourg established Collège Mathieu in 1918, to maintain and expand their culture. Collège Mathieu is a technical and vocational school dedicated to learning in French.

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Gravelbourg municipal buildings, offering bureaucracy in two languages.

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As day turned to evening, we retreated to The Bishop’s Palace BnB next door to the Cathédrale.  

We sat on the upper balcony and watched the prairie sunset. The day’s celebration ended with a Gravelbourg …

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