Rolland, Alexander Francis Wilfrid

• Alexander F. W. Rolland, S.J.

Alexander F. W. Rolland was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1904. After four years at Loyola High School in Montreal, in 1923 Rolland entered the Society of Jesus at St. Stanislaus Novitiate in Guelph, Ontario to begin his spiritual training. Between 1927 and 1935, he completed studies in theology and philosophy at Immaculée-Conception in Montreal, spending 1930-1931 and 1936-1937 studying Ojibwe at Holy Cross Mission in Wiikwemkoong, Ontario. In 1934 he was ordained as a priest.

Rolland spent much of his career ministering in Ojibwe communities north of Lake Superior in Ontario. His was assigned to Nipigong parish from 1937 to 1943; McDiarmid from 1943 to 1954; and West Bay, Manitoulin Island, from 1954 to 1959. In 1959 he returned to the area north of Lake Superior with assignments in Longlac, from 1959 to 1971, and Aroland, from 1971 to 1980.

With his fluency in Ojibwe and with the aid of earlier grammars, Rolland compiled an Ojibwe grammar as well as several English-Ojibwe catechisms for his and his colleagues’ use in their work. His interest in the Ojibwe language and people compelled him to write several essays about them. The story of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Indigenous woman in North America to be canonized by the Catholic Church, also attracted Rolland and he worked to make her life known during his career.

Rolland was inspired in his work by his mentor, Joseph Couture, S.J., who held the Longlac assignment for many years before Fr. Rolland’s posting there. During holidays from his studies, Rolland would accompany Fr. Couture in his work in Northern Ontario. Especially in Fr. Rolland’s early career, these communities were not serviced by roads, requiring visits by rail or long trips on foot or by canoe.

Always involved in the communities in which he was stationed, Fr. Rolland worked to improve his parish, fundraising for the building and restoring several churches. In Aroland, a remote community, he advocated for roads and hydropower connection to service the area.

In 1980 he retired from his work in the north, settling in the Jesuit infirmary in Pickering, Ontario, until his death in 1987.

Created in May 2025 by Brenna Roblin, Rebecca Reedman, Tatiana Povoroznyuk, and Kat Boechler as part of the McGill's School of Information Studies INFS 641 course. Revised by F. Dansereau, Director, and P. Prost, Archivist, 2025-05-09.

Fay, T. J. (1991). Rolland, Alexander F. W. In Dictionary of Jesuit Biography: Ministry to English Canada, 1842-1987. Canadian Institute of Jesuit Studies (p. 307-309).