This (the third) Roman Catholic church in St. Francois Xavier in the Rural Municipality of St. Francois Xavier was designed by architect J-A Senecal and built in the year 1905. Near the church is a plaque commemorating Georges Antoine Belcourt.



Among the noteworthy people buried in its cemetery are the following: Pascal Breland, Patrice Breland, Pierre Falcon, and Cuthbert Grant. (Source: Manitoba Historical Society [Adapted])



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The Parish of St. François-Xavier is the second oldest Roman Catholic parish from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean on the western coast. We have a lot of history because we were established as a mission in 1823 by Bishop Provencher. (Source: Parish of St Francois Xavier)



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Sir Cuthbert Grant, Esquire, of Scottish origin and a converted Catholic, was a senior employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. He settled near the Assiniboine River. In the spring of 1823 many faithful inhabitants from Pembina who did not want to settle at the forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, followed him and arrived at the White Horse Plains in the spring of 1824. Most of the settlers were Metis and Cuthbert Grants' relatives thus forming a village called Grantown until 1854.



Until 1827 settlers of the White Horse Plains were spiritually guided by missionaries. Occasionally, Father Destroismaisons came from St. Boniface until his departure on August 18, 1831. Father Jean Baptiste Harper spent the winters with the settlers accompanying the men on their buffalo hunts. During the summer he spent Sundays with them. Father François Boucher replaced him and helped the people until August 30, 1833. Next to come was Father Charles Edward Poire who became the first parish priest of St. François-Xavier of the White Horse Plains. On January 1st, 1834, this Mission gained the rank of Parish.



From 1824 until 1828. religious services were held in the home of Cuthbert Grant. In 1828 a log chapel was built by the settlers. It measured twenty by thirty feet. Soon the chapel became too small and a new chapel measuring eighty by thirty-three feet was built. The first Mass was celebrated at midnight on Christmas in 1833. It was probably at this time that the Archbishop of Quebec. Monseigneur Panet, seeing the population increase decided that the rank Of "Parish" be given to the mission. In this chapel, by the long wall on the side of the Epistle, the ashes of Cuthbert Grant lay after his death, the 16th of July, 1854, at the early age of 61 years.



(Source: Our First Hundred Years - History of St Francois Xavier Municipality, pp 96f [Adapted])



Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD14-09-11-01-W1

Located in the core of the town of Saint-Francois Xavier, MB, on the north side of Provincial Highway 26, which serves as the town's main street



As noted above, a part of the story of the town and its inhabitants from the early days of European settlement to about 1980 is told in the volume "Our First Hundred Years - History of St Francois Xavier Municipality", especially starting on page 96. A digital version of this and many other Manitoba local history books can be found online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".