Archbishop Augustin Dontenwill, OMI (1857–1931)
Date of Birth:
June 4, 1857, Bischwiller, Alsace, France
Ordination:
May 30, 1885, by Bishop Thomas Duhamel, Ottawa, Ontario
Episcopal Ordination:
August 22, 1897, by Archbishop Louis Langevin, OMI, Archbishop of St. Boniface, assisted by Bishop Pierre-Paul Durieu, OMI, Bishop of New Westminster, and Bishop Isidore Clut, OMI, Bishop of Athabaska, at New Westminster, British Columbia
Length of Episcopacy:
1899–1908
Motto:
Pax in veritate. (Peace in Truth.)
Five years after his ordination, Archbishop Augustin Dontenwill came to teach at St. Louis College, located in New Westminster. He was appointed by Pope Leo XIII as titular bishop of Germanicopolis and coadjutor to Bishop Pierre-Paul Durieu on April 3, 1897, and had his episcopal ordination in August. During his tenure as bishop of New Westminster, he caused the building of Holy Rosary Cathedral and helped establish seven parishes in the diocese. He was promoted by Pope Pius X as the first archbishop of Vancouver on September 19, 1908, while at the general chapter meeting of the Oblate order in Rome. At that same meeting he was elected superior general of the order and was forced to resign his position as archbishop of Vancouver, a few days after his appointment. He died in Rome November 30, 1931.