Papineau, Eugène

• Eugène Papineau, s.j.

Eugène Papineau, S.J. was born on January 18, 1876 in St-Vincent-de-Paul, Quebec. He entered the Society of Jesus on July 28, 1894. Father Papineau received his spiritual training and studied classics at Sault-au-Recollet, Montreal. He continued on to study philosophy at Immaculée-Conception, Montreal, from 1898 to 1901, and was then assigned to teach at the residential school at Wikwemikong in Manitoulin Island, Ontario. In his four years there, he became proficient in Ojibway. Father Papineau then went on to study theology at Immaculée-Conception from 1905 to 1909, and was ordained a priest on July 27, 1908.

In 1911, Father Papineau returned to Northern Ontario and became the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul (later renamed St. Bernard’s) parish in Little Current. As a resident pastor in Little Current, he had the responsibility of the Catholics on Manitoulin Island, with the exception of the Indigenous peoples living on the unceded territory of Wiikwemkoong. He was first assigned to Wiikwemkoong where he devoted much time to helping the parishioners at South Bay build a new stone church. In 1917, he was named Superior at the residential school in Spanish, Ontario.

Father Papineau became seriously ill in 1925. He received hospital treatment in Montreal but eventually returned to return to Little Current. He passed away in Toronto on July 31, 1931.