111 Chowsunket St |
British Columbia Tourism Region : Northern BC
Description From Owner:
- Lejac - After Father Jean-Marie Le Jacq, perhaps the most saintly of all the priests of the Congregation of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
- Father Le Jacq came to Williams Lake in April 1867. In 1873 he founded the Mission of Our Lady of Good Hope on Stuart Lake, by Fort St. James. From here he covered an enormous territory.
- Kay Cronin recalls interviewing an old Indian who had known Father Le Jacq: 'When I see pore Le Jacq come, my heart cry,' said Louis Billy. 'He come from Babine.
- He walk; his blanket, his portable altar, his grub, on his back. And when he come, he cover his feet with his cassock because he has no stockings. But I see there is blood in his shoes.'
- Not surprisingly Cronin concludes: 'Of all the Oblate Fathers who had, or have since, worked among the northern tribes, none seems to have made such a deep impression on them or com manded more respect than did Father Le Jacq.
- Even today there are many among the Indians who are firmly convinced that the man was a living saint. And the tales still told about him are near-legendary' (Cross in the Wilderness, p. 134). Le Jacq died in New Westminster in 1899.
- With permission from G.P.V and Helen B. Akrigg 1997 British Columbia Place Names. UBC Press.
Address of this page: http://bc.ruralroutes.com/Lejac